Obsolete
by NejiKikyoAnimeRose
Summary: The feeling of inadequacy is a powerful and debilitating thing. Rey has always understood that. Rey-centric, first chapter is a prologue. First Saint Beast fic and a huge experiment, feedback is appreciated.
1. Prologue

Rey was quite certain he had never worked as hard as he was now. The gentle heavenly wind whistled in his ears, sharp and painful. The beautiful blue sky was not as beautiful as it usually was in his eyes as he tried to run faster and faster and faster up that impossible hill.

He dimly heard the voice of the adult angel who ran the training course in the background, yelling at him to move his feet more, be lighter on his toes, there was no way such a clumsy angel would ever reach the top of the hill. Rey was certain he would have blushed at that if his face weren't already stained red from the exertion of the training. Rey looked up from his running and his heart skipped as he saw the top of the hill. Then his heart plummeted.

All the other angels had finished already.

When he finally reached the top, he collapsed in exhaustion, hands shaking as he rested his weight heavily on his abused legs and knees. He knew all of his peers were looking at him but he ignored them. It would be over in a moment anyway. It always was.

And, as he predicted, he soon heard the gruff voice of the trainer congratulating everyone (Shiva in particular) on a job well done. The time and place for the next training session was given and the angels left quickly, eager to return to those fun activities that all adolescent angels loved. The trainer turned to Rey and said nothing. Rey couldn't bring himself to look at him.

"I – I'm sorry," Rey choked, trying desperately to catch his breath. There was a pause and Rey wanted to disappear.

"Why do you apologize, Rey?" Rey clenched his eyes shut in frustration to stave off embarrassed and angry tears.

"Be-because I f—I failed," he answered miserably. Silence again met his utterance and he added, almost as an afterthought, "I'm weak." Had he been watching his trainer, he would have seen the minute – almost unnoticeable – change of his expression. His left eyebrow lifted a fraction of an inch and his eyes flashed dully in response to the pathetic admission. He sighed.

"Yes, you are," the angel responded. "Because weak people don't look at their teachers when they're being spoken to." Rey froze and the shame bubbled up within him again, familiar but hated. He took a deep but shaky breath and attempted to straighten himself. His trainer waited patiently until the young angel's eyes were upon his before continuing.

"Weak people give up in the middle of an exercise because they don't think they'll ever overcome it. Weak people look to obtain external validation from others instead of turning inward to find it themselves. Weak people never try to better themselves.

"Yes, Rey, you are very weak." Rey bit his lip and tried harder to keep the tears at bay but it wasn't working very well. His vision was already blurred.

"But you are not without hope." Rey's head snapped up towards his trainer so quickly the adult could almost hear it. This was the first time he had ever given Rey anything other than criticism. It was long overdue, but the trainer had honestly believed that this young angel was capable of succeeding, and had given him time – maybe a little too much of it – to discover that on his own.

Rey couldn't believe his ears and listened raptly as that tall and rough-looking angel spoke again.

"You do try," he said softly. "You try but you never believe that you can succeed. That is your flaw. It is not humility, Rey to disbelieve your own talents, your own efforts; as it is neither vanity nor pride to put faith in them. I cannot give you the ability to be proud of your achievements, and I cannot give you the wisdom to know when you must be humble and modest. That comes with practice. And with practice comes hardship." He stopped a moment and Rey was sure all the breath had left him. His mouth was parted in awe, his eyes wide with respect and admiration, his body taut with restrained emotion. He had never, in all his years of life, ever heard of anyone believing in him even to the remotest extent of what his teacher seemed to express.

Suddenly, his teacher grinned, and ruffled his long purple hair with a toughened and calloused hand.

"The anger helps a bit too; it proves you're motivated. If you end up tearing all that pretty hair out in your frustration, you'll know you're doing something right."

Rey never forgot that day.

* * *

**First ever Saint Beast fic (that I've posted, I actually have several going currently)! I'm really excited about it, cuz I kinda love Saint Beast and stuff. Go figure... ;)  
**

**ANYwho, I wrote this as a prologue to a chptr story, but I'm not quite sure about the whole thing yet. Usually, what I like to do is post the first chptr, see how people like it and then go from there. If this is received well by at least one person, then I will continue it (not a review whore, guys, just throwing that out there). If not, that's fine too! Either way, I don't own Saint Beast, or the characters, but I do own Rey's wonderful little teacher! This piece, if I continue it, will be a reflection of Rey's character, because I do think he does have a bit of an inferiority complex that he doesn't let on to people in the anime (even Luca or Shin), and I want to address that. **

**Another thing, I love Shiva, and he will probably be a recurring character in the story (but he won't be an attention hog) if it continues, but don't worry, there will not be any JudasShiva because I just cannot picture that pairing at all! JudasShin all the way. There also won't be any GouGai or KiraMaya because I just can't see the romance between Gou and Gai in the anime and KiraMaya just does not do anything for me. Kira is also a royal jerk.  
**

**One last thing, I have never heard the drama CD, even though I really want to, and have only read little snippets of it on the internet (which is how I know that Kira is a royal jerk). If anyone has any knowledge of it, and doesn't mind sharing, do tell, please and thank you! If this continues, the references are largely to the anime and not the drama CD's, just a heads up. **

**Thank you very much for putting up with me and my long author's notes!  
**


	2. The Beginning

It was a beautiful day in Heaven, as it usually was, and Rey was enjoying himself extensively. Shin was discussing a new book he had found in the library with him and Rey found himself very interested in it. It was about human traditions, and Shin was explaining his favorite chapter of the book; a chapter about human love. Rey was listening at rapt attention.

"I remember when we learned about it a little bit ourselves," Shin was saying, "when we were younger."

"That was when Lord Lucifer was still here," Rey interjected a little sadly. "He always found humans so fascinating." Shin nodded a little more enthusiastically than normal.

"Well, they are!" he responded earnestly, flipping through the pages with elegant and deft hands. "Look at this. There are rules to follow, apparently, when a human male courts a human female. I don't understand the necessity of them, but I find it amazing that the humans came up with them!" Rey nodded and then leaned over the book again, scanning the words over with obvious interest. He stopped when he read a particular line.

"Wait," he muttered. Shin looked at him quickly and then followed his eyes to the line he was reading. After a moment his brow furrowed.

"Oh," he gasped under his breath. They were both silent for a moment as they read onward, turning the page. The chapter met its end there. Rey bit his lip as he contemplated what he had just read.

"So, in this time, humans don't really join, er…marry? Was that the word?" Shin nodded, clearly lost in his own thoughts. Rey continued. "Humans don't marry for love?" Shin nodded again.

"I suppose not," he said slowly. Rey blinked and observed the page, confused.

"But, that doesn't seem right at all," he protested with a furrowed brow. "I thought God gifted all humans with the ability to love, wouldn't they… I mean, what about those two humans we saw in the Goddess's mirror? Weren't they in love?" Shin shook his head and lightly bit his lip, a sign he was thinking hard.

"…Perhaps they were a special case," he hypothesized. "Perhaps not all humans are as lucky as they." Rey's silence was his only response.

"Rey! Shin! Hey!" The two angels were startled out of their reverie by the very familiar sound of Gai's exuberant voice. They turned and smiled as they saw Gai running towards them at full speed, Gou following at a calmer pace. Rey stood and waved happily as the two approached them.

"Hello, Gou," he said pleasantly. "Hello, Gai. What brings you two here, I thought you were sparring?" Shin closed the book and looked expectantly at them. Gai pouted and folded his arms peevishly. He still resembled so closely the young infant angel he once was. Rey almost laughed but Gou's smile faltered a little and stopped the laughter in his throat.

"We have a task," he said seriously. "Luca and Judas are waiting for us at Heaven's Palace. I don't know what it is, but it was apparently important enough that Pandora told us of it in person." Rey's brow furrowed and he felt a small pang of worry and knew that Shin shared his sentiment. Beside him, the studious angel stood to his feet and took a step towards Gou.

"Do you know anything about the nature of this mission?" he asked. Gou shook his head and Gai rolled his eyes.

"No, he said it was _too important _to bear repeating," Gai mocked, in an obvious but terrible impression of Pandora. Gou smiled and thwacked the little angel upside the head. Gai squawked and clutched his head, glaring at Gou. Shin and Rey chuckled, grateful for the momentary lightening of the solemn mood. Shin was the first to sober.

"We should head over there as soon as possible, then," he said, casting the book a longing glance before tucking it beneath his arm. Rey nodded and summoned his wings.

"I can carry someone there," he offered. "It won't be as fast as I normally can fly, but it's faster than walking." Gai immediately jumped up with his hand in the air.

"I wanna go!" he shouted. "I've never flown before, Rey, let me go!" Rey smiled as Gou snickered and Shin stifled his laughs behind his hand. Gai ignored them both. Rey nodded and Gai bounded over to him.

"Alright," Rey said. "You'll have to put your arms around my neck and hold on tight." Gai tilted his head in slight confusion.

"Around your neck?" he repeated. "Can't you just hold my hands or something? Or I could ride on your back?" Rey shook his head, amused at Gai's antics but slightly impatient to get to the palace.

"No, if you ride on my back, my wings won't be able to move, and if I hold your arms, I could injure you," he explained. "And besides, that would slow us down. It's easier if you just hold onto my neck." Gai pouted but he did not want to miss the opportunity to fly. Truth be told, he'd always been a little jealous of Rey and Luca. They could travel super fast and look super cool with their super awesome wings. What did Gai have? All he had was some fangs.

"It's not fair," he mumbled as he wrapped his arms around Rey's neck as instructed. Rey laughed.

"Wings aren't everything, Gai," he said, poking the little angel's nose playfully. "You have so many things that I don't have that I would gladly give my wings for." Gai nodded and waved miserably at Gou and Shin, who returned the gesture, and sighed. Rey let out a long breath, sounding like a wearied mother trying to placate her child, and wrapped his arms around Gai's waist securely.

"Hold on," he warned before he took off into the air. Gai's yelp of surprise made him laugh out loud. Those wiry arms tightened around his neck and he smiled.

"I won't drop you!" he promised as he began to ascend higher and higher.

"Wooooooooow!" Gai shouted, twisting his head right and left as far as he could. "This is so awesome, Rey! You see this every time you fly!" Rey's smile grew and he began to pick up speed, careful of the safety of his precious cargo.

"I suppose so!" he shouted back, loving the feel of the wind in his hair as he always did. Somehow, Gai's excitement about the experience was making everything that had once seemed to be a routine to Rey appear so much more beautiful. He honestly thought his face would split from the force of his smile as he continued flying. Gai's happiness was contagious like that.

Eventually, Heaven's Palace appeared in their sight and Rey began to slow himself and descend. He was used to the feeling but he wasn't sure if Gai was, so he was sure to be extra careful.

Once they landed, Gai practically jumped away from him and pumped his fist into the air.

"That was awesome, Rey!" he belted. "Thanks so much!" Before Rey could protest, he had an armful of Gai and was struggling not to fall over. He blushed from the praise but returned Gai's embrace readily.

"Well, this is certainly an unusual thing," an amused voice floated from the steps of Heaven's Palace. Rey looked over Gai's head to see Judas and Luca walking over to him and Gai. They were both wearing amused smiles as they watched the scene before them. Rey tried to will his blush away but it didn't work exactly as he had planned. Gai pulled away from him and beamed.

"Rey just flew me over here and it was amazing!" he explained enthusiastically. He was bouncing up and down on the balls of his toes, pointing to Rey's wings, which were flapping a little uncomfortably at Rey's back, signifying his discomfort at being given so much attention. Rey looked down at his feet as Gai continued to explain his tremendous journey through the sky.

"Well, I never thought I'd see the day," Luca's voice penetrated his haze of embarrassment and Rey shrugged, not sure how to respond. Luca chuckled softly.

"Sorry," he said just as softly. "It's just so rare to see him so eager to compliment you." He smiled as Rey's blush deepened and shook his head when Rey again looked down to inspect his feet.

"You know you can't keep responding to compliments this way, Rey," he said matter-of-factly. "One of these days, you're going to have to look someone in the eye and say to them, 'thank you for the compliment.' I wonder if I'll be alive to see that day." Rey's head shot up indignantly and he put his delicate hands on his hips.

"Now wait just a minute!" he huffed. Luca laughed and began to walk away with Rey right on his heels. Judas, still smiling warmly, turned and greeted Rey.

"So you flew Gai over here," he said. "Well, that must have been an exciting flight." Rey nodded, forgetting his frustration for the moment.

"It certainly was," he agreed. "Gai was quite the passenger." Gai grinned a toothy grin and gave them all a thumbs up. They all shared a moment of laughter together and put the heavy burden of their mission aside.

"What a pleasant sight this is, all of the Saint Beasts laughing joyously together in the Palace of Heaven." The cold voice stopped their laughter and immediately Judas' face grew hard. Luca felt a wave of foreboding wash over him and studies his friend carefully.

Judas turned to face the official with a stony veneer and an oppressive tension descended over them all. Pandora stood at the entrance of the palace gates and watched them with a sharp smile and an unreadable spark in his eye. Rey swallowed noiselessly as he saw Pandora peer around, making a show of looking for something.

"But what's this?" he inquired with a mocking tone. "Not all of the Saints are here. Oh dear, I'd have thought you would all take this seriously enough to warrant a speedy arrival, but I suppose I was wrong." He broke off to touch a hand to his head as though he were disappointed. Judas' expression was as cold as Pandora's and he stepped forward to match the official.

"Forgive us our inattentiveness, Pandora," he said in a low voice. "I suppose you'll just have to tell Lord Zeus of our ineptitude." Pandora fell back a step, recognizing Judas' challenge but being hesitant to meet it. Judas opened his mouth to speak again, but Luca stepped forward and placed a restraining arm on his shoulder. The red-haired angel turned to him and met his eyes. Luca shook his head and held Judas' gaze. Judas sighed and turned away from Pandora, closing his eyes as he tried to reign in his temper. Luca faced Pandora and stood between him and Judas. Rey and Gai moved to stand at his side.

"Pandora, Gou and Shin will be here soon, we can assure you of that," he said. "In the meanwhile, I am sure you have other business that requires your attention more than we do. Do you deny it?" Pandora narrowed his eyes, but bowed his head and headed back into the palace with the grace that befitted one of Zeus' officials. Luca sighed and reached a hand up to his forehead.

"That man is more embittered every time we see him," he said through clenched teeth. Rey placed his hand atop Luca's and offered a gentle smile.

"That may be true, Luca," he said. "But he is not our concern right now." Luca's deep red eyes caught Rey's soft amber ones and held them there in a grateful gaze. He smiled and took Rey's hand in his.

"That is true," he agreed. "He is not our concern now." As if on cue, Judas spoke up in a voice of forced calm.

"Here come Shin and Gou," he said. Luca nodded his acknowledgement but his eyes, which had shifted from Rey to Judas, did not leave the tense form of his friend. Rey squeezed his hand.

"Hello Shin, Gou," he said without relinquishing Luca's hand. The two stopped in front of them and Gou's eyes flashed.

"I just saw Pandora with you all," he said. "Is everything all right?" Shin immediately focused his worried eyes on Judas, noticing his unusual rigidity.

"Judas?" he asked tentatively. "What happened? What did he say?" Judas was watching the entrance to Heaven's Palace with an almost acidic gaze. He didn't answer. Rey hastened to make up for his lapse in attention.

"He just said some things that—"

"Made him look like even more of a jerk!" Gai chimed in, standing at Gou's side. The taller angel turned to him with an inquisitive look.

"What sort of things?" he asked. Rey shook his head.

"What he said was unimportant," he replied. "What is important is that he was more open with his disdain for us than is usual for him. And Judas—" He stopped abruptly and glanced to Luca, who was watching Judas still. Shin and Gou followed his gaze and all six of the Saint Beasts fell into silence as they watched Judas' doubts and insecurities take hold of him.

"We should go see Zeus now," he spoke distantly, and Luca pulled his hand from Rey's grip to place it supportively upon Judas' shoulder. Judas turned to Luca gratefully. At his other side, Shin did the same and Judas offered him a warm smile as well. Gou took his place behind his three fellows and Gai stood to his right, ready for action. Rey just stood where he was, unsure of himself. The five of them began to head into the palace, and Rey, having nowhere else to stand, migrated to the tail end of their group, trying to ignore his fears.

Zeus was waiting for them.

* * *

**Alright, chapter one! I hope this turned out okay, it's not one of my favorite parts of the story so far. It's just supposed to set up the beginning of some weird plot thing that goes on. I'm not sure how well I captured the characters of Saint Beast (which I don't own, by the way) and I don't know how many people I've sent running for the hills with my cheap dialog... I hope not too many. **

**Okay, ANYwho, here is chapter one, and thank you to all who reviewed the prologue, I really appreciate your input! **

**To Ovoriel, yes there are some summaries of the drama cd's out there. The one that I found was okay for all intents and purposes, but I'm sure there are better ones out there. I'll put up the link here and you can check it out yourself! Just get rid of the spaces and replace the dots with actual dots. **

**http : / / yukiya-ayase dot livejournal dot com / 890 dot html**


	3. The Mission

Once inside the castle, the Saint Beasts were met by Pandora, this time flanked by Cassandra. Both were regarding them carefully, wary of allowing their disgust leak through their perfectly structured indifference.

Judas, at the head of the Saints, said nothing and merely allowed the two officials to lead them all to Zeus.

The Palace of Heaven was as ornate as Rey had ever remembered it being. He remembered the first time he had ever set foot in this palace; how scared he had been! He remembered clutching at the hand of his adult caretaker as he was led through the halls, kept safely at the good angel's side.

Now, he had no caretaker to shield him from the towering mightiness of the Lord Zeus. Now, he had only his own confidence and his own abilities to give him worth in the Great Deity's eyes. To him, however, that thought wasn't very comforting.

"The Saint Beasts are here to receive their mission, Lord Zeus." Pandora's voice cut sharply through Rey's memories and dispersed them in his mind as easily as liquid mercury. Rey knew his attention was required here and now and so pushed the thoughts from his mind, keeping his eyes firmly on the ground as he knelt before Zeus in time with his friends.

There was a grand pause and Rey suppressed the urge to shiver, fearing the disapproval of Zeus.

"My most honored angels," Zeus began in his deep rumbling voice. "I grow worried about the state of Earth during this time." Here, he paused and reached a hand out to the orb always at his side. It began to glow brightly and dull images swirled like clouds beneath its surface. Zeus subtly moved his hand this way and that until one image was clear in its center. "Three days ago, several demons attacked and destroyed a small village in the continent of Lucretia, very near a port town called Anglia. None survived and news of the slaughter has reached Anglia. Its people are in panic. Men and women run wild through the streets, striking down their neighbors and their neighbor's children for fear that they are demons in disguise.

"I cannot allow this to continue, Saint Beasts." Zeus removed his hand abruptly from the orb and stood regally to his feet. His subordinates waited.

"You will descend to Earth and you will go to Anglia. There you will stay until the demons have been eradicated from their home. Do you understand?" The Saint Beasts answered affirmatively and respectfully. They understood perfectly.

Zeus nodded and sat. The meeting was over.

* * *

"Hey, do you really think the humans are _really_ attacking each other because they think that their friends could be demons?" Gai was reclining on a low hanging tree branch in the courtyard of the Saint Beasts' spacious and grand manse. Shin shook his head.

"Humans are fragile creatures," he said seriously. "Many of them are very intelligent and could probably easily assimilate into our society, but once fear takes hold of them, they become irrational. There's an unusual concept of a 'primitive nature' of humans that has remained a part of their psyche for centuries despite much mental and intellectual growth that would suggest otherwise. I think it's this 'primitive nature' of theirs that is controlling them out fear right now." Gai blinked and grabbed his head with a groan.

"No more, no more, no more, Shin!" he whined. "I only wanted a yes or a no! I don't even know what 'prim-ah-tiv' means!" Shin straightened with a laugh.

"I'll explain it to you when you're ready to listen, Gai," he said in a mirthful voice. Rey giggled beside him.

"Poor Gai, he never paid attention to any of our tutors when we were younger," he teased. "And now it's beginning to show more and more." Gai growled and jumped quickly from his perch to glare at Rey, fangs elongating.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh!" he demanded. Rey simply shook his head and walked away with a swish of his violet hair. Gai followed him, shouting loudly. Gou and Shin were left to themselves and exchanged slightly weary but affectionate smiles.

"At least some things never change," Shin said with a sigh, closing his book and taking a seat on the soft grass. Gou leaned back against the tree and nodded.

"But how long will it last?" he wondered aloud. His brow furrowed as the jovial mood became a solemn one and the two fell into their thoughts. Shin bit his lip as thoughts he had tried to ignore were suddenly resurfacing with a vengeance in his mind.

What would happen on this mission of theirs? That was the first and most important question he had. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he could just feel as though something wasn't right. After all, so much had happened so recently in Heaven that had shaken the foundation of everything Shin had ever known to be true. First came Judas' questions of his allegiance, which had hitherto brought Luca into a spiral of confusion and from there, had also managed to encompass Rey, Gou, Gai, and himself. The question linked with this sudden onslaught of incidents was, 'when will it end?' Shin had no idea where to even begin to answer that question.

There had always been God and them and that was it! In a different world, it might have been God and humans, but that had never been of any concern to Shin. Yes, Kira and Maya had been half human but that was different. Shin didn't know how, but it was. It was just different. And God had always been a perfect being in his eyes, a kind, compassionate, loving, and infallible being. Shin had never questioned that but then Judas had decided to question it. Judas' questions were smothered and Judas was left with more questions, which had then become doubts. And still, they were ignored. Which led to Shin's questioning of this great authority he had once known so well. Should he not be placating this angel's worries instead of brushing them under a rug? Should not he be trying to alleviate the fears and doubts of one of his own creations, one of his own children?

And soon all the Saint Beasts were questioning it. Soon all of the Saint Beasts began to question. And they questioned because it all added up; the ranking system, the separation of the angels into districts and territories, the disdain for humans, the disdain for other angels, the cruelty shown towards other angels, the disdain towards authority, the abuse of authority; it all seemed to lead back to Zeus.

Thus, now, Shin was scared. Because he didn't know what would happen next. And he didn't know what to do next.

* * *

"Pandora."

"Yes, my Lord."

"I wish to send one of my officials with the Saint Beasts. To watch and listen."

"…Very well, Lord Zeus. Whom shall I send?"

"Send Shiva, Pandora."

"…Yet Shiva is a new and untested official, my Lord. Surely someone who has had more experience with such tasks… Perhaps Cassandra or myself—"

"Shiva has had more time in this recent human world than both you and Cassandra. I will be sending him."

"…Yes, my Lord."

"Besides, Shiva's angelic talents would prove the most useful for the kind of work he will do. Go fetch him, Pandora."

"Yes, Lord Zeus."

* * *

Wearing cloaks with the mystical ability to disguise them from the eyes of man, the Saint Beasts stood outside the gate of Heaven's Palace. Each held his own vial of drops from the Sacred Spring. Each was ready for descent. Judas looked around at each of them and sighed.

"Well," he said. "Shall we?" They nodded and began their descent.

Moments later, they appeared on the surface of the human world, back to back, eyes alert. They were surrounded by trees as they had been so many times they had had to go to Earth, and the sun was just beginning to set. Luca's brow furrowed.

"Be careful," he cautioned. Rey nodded and remained quiet and still, watching for any signs of danger.

"Shin, do you know where we are?" he asked. "There's a coastline about six miles ahead. Would that be near the city?" Shin turned to look over towards the coastline Rey had seen. He nodded.

"I believe that is the correct coast," he said. "It's irregular, jagged, and looks as though it would be a very ideal place for trading." Gai turned around and peered over the top of the hill they stood upon.

"So, where's the city?" he asked, looking around for any signs of buildings or humans. Shin shook his head.

"I don't think it can be seen from up here. We'll have to go through the forest first," he guessed. Judas turned and pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders. He began to walk down the hill and towards the forest.

"Well, then, let's begin," he invited. Luca walked after him and Gou, Gai, Shin, and Rey soon followed.

The forest was fast becoming very dark and difficult to see in. The trees were very determined to keep the last few rays of sunlight from filtering through their branches and cast only shade on the angels' road. Judas kept walking, the others kept following. They trusted him.

"So, ah, how long is this going to take?" Gai asked nervously, keeping unusually close to Gou's side. His eyes flitted about this way and that and he jumped at the smallest of noises. Gou laughed.

"Ha! I didn't realize that you were afraid of the dark, Gai," he said. "You used to play pranks all the time during the night. What happened?" Gai glared at him and yelped as he dodged out of the way of a low hanging branch.

"I'm not scared!" he insisted. "I'm just – I'm – It's cold out!" Gou gave Gai a disbelieving look but acknowledged the truth of the point.

"It is colder than it usually is in Heaven," he remarked. "Anyone here know why that is?"

"Autumn," Shin muttered in response, hunching over as though trying to become smaller in his cloak. He shivered. "It's a human season here on Earth. It comes before winter, the coldest of their four seasons." He shivered again. "I didn't think it would be _this _cold, though." Judas cast him a slightly concerned glance and slowed so that he was walking beside Shin. Luca had fallen back to Rey and Gai was trying not to jump at small noises, glad the others had forgotten his fright. Rey looked around as the sun finally slipped below the horizon. The forest was plunged into a bluish darkness. He stopped for a moment and blinked, allowing his eyes to adjust themselves to this new and poor light. Beside him, Luca stopped as well and was regarding him carefully.

"Is something wrong, Rey?" he asked in a quiet voice. There was just something about this forest that discouraged loud shouts and echoing cries. Even Gai was heeding this unspoken warning and keeping his voice quieter than he normally kept it.

"No, Luca, I'm fine! I'm just letting my eyes adjust," he explained quickly, shaking his head a little vehemently. It was so embarrassing sometimes, when Luca did or said anything that focused on him. Rey didn't know when it had happened, but sometime after Luca had recovered from that awful curse, he had begun to look different in Rey's eyes. Everything he did had become slightly different, and now, whenever Luca gave Rey any of his attention Rey would become hyperaware of himself and of the situation. He would stutter more often, he would look away from Luca more often, he would blush more often.

And when Luca touched him…

Oh, Lord, he didn't even want to think about that! It wasn't even as though it were a purposeful touch! Luca's hand would just brush against Rey's – Luca himself probably didn't even notice it – and Rey would feel something warm spreading throughout his whole arm. And it would spread through the rest of his body eventually too. The first time it had happened, Rey had been caught so very unaware that he'd had to sit down. Luca had guided him to a seat and that required more touching, which meant more of that weird feeling. Rey was sure he had been completely flushed from head to toe. The worst part was, Luca thought he was ill and didn't leave him alone for the rest of the day.

Now, not only did that unusual feeling erupt deep inside of him when Luca touched him, but whenever Luca showed him concern of any kind. If this feeling were an illness, Rey was sure it was getting worse.

He was glad of the darkness for one reason, though; that way, Luca couldn't see him turn bright red.

"Alright," Luca responded slowly, probably a little confused at Rey's odd behavior. Rey tried to put it out of his mind. His attention could not waver, it was important to complete this mission.

Suddenly, Judas came to a stop before them all.

"Wait," he said. Gou moved up beside him and peered carefully into the darkness.

"I hear it too," he said. Luca moved in closer to the group and closed his eyes.

"Me too," he added. Gai and Shin both exchanged looks and warily took a step closer. Rey stepped behind them, completing the tight circle. Soon he began to hear what Judas had heard; the soft but rhythmic beat of a horse's hooves on a grassy path. They grew slowly louder and Rey deduced that the horse and whomever its rider was, were travelling along the very same path that the Saint Beasts were. It was difficult to tell which direction they were coming from, though.

"Rey!" Luca's urgent voice pierced into his silent contemplation and he whipped around to see Luca stepping in front of him, his eyes on something that turned out to be behind them all. Luca's hand gripped his arm tightly and pulled him back, Luca's body literally a shield that blocked Rey from whatever approached them.

"Who are you?" Luca called out. Where Rey would have expected his voice to echo, it was muffled, as though the trees were absorbing the sound of it.

The clip-clop of the horse slowed and soon stopped completely. Rey heard a heavy thud; someone jumping down from something, maybe someone dismounting a horse.

An unusual array of noises followed after that, and the Saint Beasts were caught by surprise as light flooded the tiny space in the forest they occupied. Rey shut his eyes tightly and brought a hand to cover them, everyone else doing the same. When his eyes recovered from the onslaught, he looked curiously at the cause of the commotion and was perplexed to see an elderly woman standing before them, lit torch in her hand, brown mare and covered wagon behind her. A dimpled and wrinkled smile took over the expanse of her bony face, and Rey had to fight not to wince at the sight of near rotted teeth and empty spaces of gum.

The woman began to walk towards them and Luca took a wary step back, pushing Rey as he went.

"Who are you?" he reiterated. The woman stopped abruptly and gasped, placing a gnarled hand over her mouth as she realized something.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, my dear, I am not an enemy!" she said. Rey felt a stab of shame course through him at the weak sound of her voice and the sincerity of her words. Without a thought, he sidestepped around Luca and hurried over to the woman before anyone could stop him.

"Rey," he heard Shin whisper in a worried voice. Rey ignored him. He smiled at the woman and approached her in a would-be casual manner. She looked up at him with dull eyes nearly covered with wrinkled skin. Her smile faltered for a moment as she puzzled over something.

"Excuse me, lady," he said gently. "But we are trying to find the city of Anglia. Would you happen to know where it is?" The woman's eyes widened and her smile returned. She let out a mad cackle and Rey jumped.

"My, my, you children are summoners of spirits!" she exclaimed in a high voice. "How exciting!" She broke off to let out another shriek of laughter and looked up at Rey with that same smile. "Tell me, spirit, do you have any friends with you? Are they as invisible as you?" Rey gaped, at a loss for words, and worked his mouth soundlessly as he searched for a response. Before he could find one, however, he was being roughly pulled away from the woman as a slightly angry-looking Luca stepped between them.

"Enough," he said, his voice hard. "Please, if you would, just answer the question. Do you know where Anglia is?" The woman blinked and was slow in answering. This man was quite the careful one, wasn't he? Not to trust strangers at all. Even the elderly ones.

"I do," she chuckled, turning around to head back to her horse and cart. Luca, completely stupefied, could only stutter for a minute until Judas stepped forward and asked, "Would you be so kind as to give us directions?" The woman cackled as she stepped back up onto her wagon. With one old hand, she gripped the reins in a shaky grip, and with the other she wacked at the cloth covering the wagon.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she simpered. "Come out here, boy!" A young child, no older than twelve or thirteen years, poked his head out from behind the cloth. His face was dirty and his hair was mussed. He looked around at all of them and Rey was even more confused when his little eyes lingered on him for a moment. A natural crease in his forehead deepened.

"You are not… a spirit?" he inquired tentatively. Rey shook his head and tried to ignore Luca's frustrated breath.

"No, I'm n—"

"Don't listen to him, boy! I don't want to have to send you away again!" The old woman laughed and got a brittle hold of the boy's shirt. She pulled him towards her and ruffled his hair coarsely. Rey couldn't help the flinch that shook his whole body as he watched the boy's miserable face in the woman's relentless hold. He could feel Luca's disdain if only because of the sudden tightening of Luca's grip on his arm.

"He was possessed by demons," she explained. "That's why his parents sent him to me. I cured him! I don't want him going back to that dark path, spirit, you see. Please do not speak to him, it might tempt him." She grinned a toothy grin and shoved the boy away. "Now, help the gents and lady! You can never let a lady wander a lonely path like this at night. One never does know what could be hiding." Her smile was eerie now, the ripples and dips of her skin casting unnatural shadows all over her face as the light of the fire danced an occult dance atop its torch. The woman looked at Shin and beckoned him closer.

"Come now, lady," she encouraged. "You will ride in the cart with me. The men may lead the way." Shin shrank back only a scant bit, but it was enough to incite a response from the woman.

"Oh, such a quiet maiden!" she praised in her shrieking scratchy voice. "That is good! That's exactly what will get you a good knight one day, is that complacency! Don't want to do too much of that spirit summoning, though, do we now?" She laughed wildly at this and almost lit the wagon on fire with the waving of the torch. Shin could only nod weakly. He tried to move back but Judas' unmoving body stopped him. Judas' hands reached up and held his arms firmly, assuring him of the taller angel's presence.

"That won't be necessary," he said seriously. "We can walk, all we need are directions." The woman's eyes twinkled and she looked between the two of them eagerly.

"Oh, so you have already laid claim to this young doe, sir knight?" she teased, a hint of mischief in her voice that made Gai shiver. That was the kind of thing he would tease someone about, but something about the way this woman said it made him feel tense, and he was more than a little suspicious of her. He stepped closer to Gou, who was looking from Judas and Shin to the woman with a look as wary as Gai felt.

"If you would like to think of it that way," Judas dodged. "Now, please. You have avoided the question long enough. Can you or this child give us directions to Anglia?" The woman waved a hand impatiently in the air.

"If you won't ride with me, my young lady," she scolded. "You'll have to walk behind me. The boy is our guide. Now, boy, get back—" before she could finish, the boy jumped from the cart and ran over to Shin, swiftly proceeding to cling as tightly to his hand as he possibly could.

"She's mad," he whispered, looking fearfully at the woman. "Don't trust her." Shin, perplexed, looked at Judas and opened his mouth to ask for clarification, but the woman jumped down from her seat before he could and pointed at the boy.

"You be silent, boy!" she ordered. Smiling at Shin and Judas, she laughed and said, "Poor thing, he does not understand what he speaks of. He's never trusted so easily after his parents died." Shin raised a brow and angled himself so as to hide the boy from her gaze and reach.

"I thought you said his parents gave him to you," he said warily. "Are you telling me they died first?" The woman's smile flickered and fell from her face. She narrowed her eyes at Shin and began to walk towards him, torch gripped tightly in hand. She began to mutter something beneath her breath and the fire danced brighter and jumped higher. Shin's heart raced as his fear of her took hold of him and he backed away as readily as she advanced. Gou and Gai intercepted her but she pushed and shoved to get around them. Judas watched her carefully and Luca and Rey rejoined them to help strengthen the living barrier they formed.

"You, I have seen you before, you wench!" she shrieked, even as Gai and Gou pushed her back to her cart and horse. "I know you! In the night, they come, and it is _your_ head which they rip from those lovely young shoulders, and it is _your _flesh which they rip from your bones as they feed upon your soul!" Shin was shaking now, holding his hands out before him, clenched together as though he could fend off whatever it was she was talking about. Judas was shouting to everyone that they needed to get out of there _now_, forget directions, they would find the way!

Suddenly the woman turned to Rey and groped blindly for something. She found his shoulder, grabbed it hard and pulled him forward.

"Spirit!" she cried and he flinched from the proximity. "Don't let them take her! Keep them away, you devilish thing! Keep them away!" She shook Rey violently as she howled over and over again, "Keep them away, spirit!" Rey was quite certain he'd never been quite this frightened in his life.

Then Luca was there, pulling Rey away from her again, bringing him to his firm chest and anchoring him there steadily as he hurled a dark blast of energy at the woman. Rey gasped and brought his hands up to cover his mouth. Judas shouted, "Luca, don't!" and Gou hurried to catch the woman before she hit the ground.

"Luca, what did you do!" he demanded. "You can't just attack an innocent human just because she—"

"Step away from her, Gou, that is not a human," Luca demanded with harshness masking the minute ounce of fear in his voice. Gou froze and looked urgently down at the woman in his arms.

"A-are you-?" he asked stupidly. The woman was cackling as she wiped some spittle from her lips and pushed herself onto her rump. Looking up at him, her eyes flashed and she said, "Your guess is as good as mine."

A light filled the forest and blinded the Saint Beasts and Judas tried desperately to keep sight of the woman and Gou. His heart thudded in his chest as he heard Gou's grunt of pain and he called out for his friend, his head whipping this way and that wildly. At seeing nothing but the white of that damned light, Judas cursed and called out for Gou again.

"Gou!" Gai shouted, rushing forward to reach his friend.

"I'm here, Gai!" was the response he heard, only slightly in front of him. Gai followed his voice and Judas released a relieved sigh. Before he could move, the light disappeared and a hideous demon stood where the woman had once been. He snarled and sneered at the angels surrounding him and expanded his leathery wings behind him. The Saint Beasts jumped back to give themselves room and the demon laughed.

"Such pretty things," he rumbled deep in his throat. To Rey, he snarked, "So, spirit, can you keep her safe?" No sooner had the words left his mouth, then the demon was flying at Shin, claws up and teeth bared. He let out a great roar as his dark energy began to leak from his body in anticipation of the meal he was going to make of this disgustingly righteous being.

A stream of fire ripped through his body as a ball of light and dark simultaneously rammed into him from behind and in front. The demon promptly exploded into another great light, this one not as intense as the previous and embellished with some dark ashes that sprinkled down to the ground.

Gou, Judas, and Luca all lowered their hands and glared their hatred at the incinerated demon. Gai glowered and growled at the pile of ash.

"Disgusting," he spat. To Shin, he said, "Hey, Shin, you okay? He didn't get you, right?" Shin smiled shakily and shook his head.

"No, Gai, thank you," he replied. "He – he didn't get me." Judas took one moment more to loathe the creature's remains before he turned to regard Shin carefully.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, placing his hand protectively upon Shin's shoulder. The scholarly angel looked down at that hand and tried to hide the pink that dusted his cheeks.

"Yes, Judas," he said softly. "I'm fine." Judas did not look convinced and thus did not let his hand fall from Shin's shoulder. Instead, he took a step closer to Shin and moved his hand down to rest upon Shin's back. The child still clung to Shin and was still shaking from the encounter. Shin felt a rush of pity for the boy and knelt down beside him.

"Are you alright?" he asked tenderly, smiling gently. The boy nodded, his eyes on something to his left. He looked petrified and Shin followed his gaze. And almost screamed.

In the middle of the path, right where Luca had blasted the woman backwards, was a mutilated and terribly mangled body, lying there completely dead and unmoving.

Shin's eyes widened and he pulled the boy close to him, shielding his eyes.

"Judas!" he gasped. Judas' face was grave.

"I know," he said. "I see it." On the other side of the glade, Rey was trying not to look at the sight and Luca was completely lost in his own thoughts; most of them not very optimistic if the look on his face was any indication. Gai's queasiness at the sight before him was evident as his hand shot to his mouth and he quickly scampered behind a tree. The sounds of retching were heard but no one paid them any heed. Gou was still frozen where the woman – demon – had knocked him back, trying to figure out exactly what had just happened and what should be done next.

The boy, still in Shin's grasp, pulled himself free from the angel and walked over to the gory mass.

"It's alright," he mumbled. "I'll clean it up." A small cry bubbled up in Rey's throat and he clenched his eyes shut and turned away as the boy knelt down to begin cleaning the spilled blood and torn flesh. His stomach could barely handle the sight of blood to begin with; there was no way he would expect it to handle the sight of all the organs that went with the blood.

The Saint Beasts were silent as the child moved the remains of the body from the road and into a makeshift grave by a small rosebush. Gai had returned and was now clutching at his stomach, rubbing it lovingly and with a comforting hand. No one knew how much time had passed and thoughts of reaching Anglia before morning had long fled from the minds of the angels.

"Okay," the boy said finally, his hands held together as he finished his prayer for the dead woman's soul. "I'm finished." He stood to his feet and gave the angels a lopsided half smile. No one responded; confusion has a way of silencing people. The boy bit his lip and the natural crease in his forehead deepened.

"You – you don't know what happened, do you?" he asked. "I'm from Anglia. Well – I'm actually from South Anglia." He paused at the blank faces that greeted him. "That – that's the town to the south of Anglia? The port town?" Comprehension suddenly dawned on Shin and he stood to his feet and stepped forward.

"You mean the town that was recently… uh… well," he began, stopping when the delicacy of such a statement occurred to him.

"Destroyed?" the boy finished for him. Shin hesitated and nodded, biting his lip. The boy smiled and the sadness of the expression pierced the hearts of all the Saint Beasts.

"Yeah," he said. "That was my home. I was trying to escape with my grandmother, but she… Well, you saw." He gestured weakly to the mound of dirt that protected what was left of the woman. "She was a witch, I guess you could say. Saw spirits, she did. And she was right, she did cure me. I didn't know she was actually dead until after we'd left. And I couldn't – I couldn't leave, then. I had to – I had to stay with her." He was rambling now and Shin didn't know of anything else to do but to kneel down before him again and try to urge him to silence.

"It's alright, child," he said. "You don't need to speak of it, now. We only need directions, if you would give them. And perhaps a name?" The boy blinked and didn't answer, eyes trained on Shin's face, apparently entranced.

"Wha – mine?" he stammered. Shin nodded. The boy blushed and looked down to his feet. "Kimbel."

"Kimbel," Shin repeated. The boy nodded. Shin smiled.

"Well, Kimbel, would you show us the way to Anglia? I promise we will not hurt you." Kimbel's eyes flashed around to look at all of them, and again, they lingered on Rey. He nodded.

"I'll show you," he said. "Just follow me." He turned round and walked quickly back over to the cart and pulled himself deftly onto the front of it. Reaching behind the cloth, he rustled around for something and pulled his hand back once he found it. In his hand, he held a very large and very sharp knife, which he used to cut the mare from her harness. She whinnied at the sight of the knife and he was very careful to keep it away from her. Once finished, he tossed the knife back onto the cart and grabbed the reins which still fit snugly around the horse's muzzle. He clicked his tongue and tugged lightly at the reins, now serving as a lead.

"Well, follow me," he beckoned to the Saint Beasts. "We'll not need any of that garbage. Leave it." With that, he began to wend his way down the darkened path, the mare in tow. And what else could the Saint Beasts, confused though they were, do but follow?

So they did.

* * *

**Uh, is anyone still reading this? Never mind. I've had this finished for a while now, but I've been taking my time with editing cuz I wanted to make sure I was sending something I could be proud of out there. So, here's chptr 3! **

**I know this is probably a really weird chptr, but it was mainly so that Kimbel could be introduced and also so I could put some blatant LucaRey and JudasShin hints in there. I'm a bit of a glutton for those pairings. ;3 I had also just finished watching some horror movies with my friends and I was in the mood to write some weird shit, so this happened. Sorry if it was confusing, more will be revealed later, I promise!  
**

**ANYwho, this is the beginning of that thing we call plot and I hope that any who read this find some enjoyment with it. I'm having a lot of fun writing it so I guess that means I'll keep updating it. Thanks to all who read and/or review his fic!**

**_Edit_**

**And thank you to anyone who has pointed out and (in the future) points out errors in the fic or confusing parts! Thank you in particular to inevitablewebreathe for pointing out one very large confusing detail that turned out to be a huge typo! For future reference, to anyone who notices something that doesn't seem to work, please leave a review to tell me or PM me to tell me and I'll try to fix it! Thanks bunches! _  
_**


	4. The Arrival

"Are you knights?" Judas looked at the child.

"Knights?" Kimbel nodded.

"Knights," he repeated. "You look like you should be. But I don't see any swords or lances. Is that because you can use magic?" Judas exchanged a glance with Luca. He'd forgotten that the child had seen them banish the demon with their powers.

"You could call us knights," he responded carefully. "We only don't have our weapons with us because of the nature of our travels." Kimbel's face lit up and he turned his head around to survey Judas excitedly.

"Pilgrimage?" he guessed. "I've heard you're not allowed to take weapons with you for that."

"No, we are not on any pilgrimage," Judas responded. "We dislike carrying weapons with us when we do not need them." Kimbel blinked.

"How do you figure out when you need them?" he asked. Judas smiled softly to himself. This child's curiosity was somehow very uplifting.

"When someone whom we love is in danger," he said. "When we need to protect someone."

"So, you don't work for any king or lord?" Judas' own curiosity was piqued.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said that you only use weapons when you want to protect someone. You didn't say anything about who you served under, and that's always the answer I get. 'I use weapons when my lord demands it of me' and such. You're different." Kimbel turned to look hard at Judas and the angel got a distinct and unpleasant feeling of recognition, as though he had seen those dark eyes somewhere before, though he knew he hadn't. Perhaps it was simply the nature in which those eyes looked at him that was disconcerting.

"I don't mean to be," he said. Kimbel shrugged and turned his head back to the dark path.

"It's not a bad thing," he explained. "I'm just saying. It's like there are two groups of knights now; them and you. It makes me think more than I want to." Judas laughed and shook his head, choosing not to respond.

"Agh. Well, anyway, it's going to take a few more hours until we get to Anglia," Kimbel said. "Any of you need to stop, or do we keep going?" The Saints exchanged looks and Luca said to the child, "I think we should keep going." The others nodded in ascent and Kimbel shrugged.

"Up to you." With that, he slowed his walk slightly and began to hum a tuneless song. The angels he led slowed as well and formed a small circle.

"Everyone's still alive, right?" Gai said with a grin. "That was some woman!" Gou shook his head.

"How did we not know it was a demon?" he asked no one in particular. Luca looked at him.

"Probably because it was inhabiting a human body," he hypothesized. "And we only sensed the humanness of the body."

"Which brings up a disquieting possibility," Judas interjected. Gai looked at him with a furrowed brow.

"What's that?" he inquired. Rey glanced quickly back at the glade that still housed the covered cart and marked the woman's eternal resting place.

"That demons can possess humans," he answered solemnly. Judas nodded.

"If all demons can possess humans, then not only are the humans and animals of Earth in more danger than we thought, but it will also be harder for us to spot that danger."

"Perhaps there is some reason, then, for the Anglian humans' irrational and violent behavior towards one another. Their neighbors might actually be possessed," Shin exclaimed.

"Or demons could be possessing them and forcing them to attack their innocent neighbors," Gou added. Gai shivered.

"I don't want to meet another possessed human!" he whined. "Especially not a whole city of them!" Gou smiled and clapped a hand on top of Gai's head, enjoying the indignant yell he got for his actions.

"I'm sure the whole city isn't going to be possessed by demons, Gai," he said, and Gai relaxed under his hand. "Maybe just half of it." Gai tensed again and turned to glare at Gou.

"That's not funny, Gou!" he shouted, shaking his fists like a child. Rey smiled.

"Well, it is a little funny," he teased. Gai turned to Rey and shook his fists in the violet-haired angel's direction.

"You can just be quiet, Mr. _Spirit_!" he growled. "How come you only ever open your mouth to make fun of me!" Rey turned red and glared petulantly at the little angel.

"I do not only speak to make fun of you!" he shot. "There are plenty of other things that I say that don't have anything to _do _with you!"

"Oh yeah? Name—"

"Okay, that's enough," Gou stated firmly. "We've got enough to handle without you two going at each other all the time." Rey and Gai spent one last moment to glare at each other and then turned away. Luca chuckled.

"Actually, I was wondering about that," he said. Rey turned to him and tilted his head.

"Wondering about what?" he asked. Luca breathed deeply in and out before he answered.

"Why that woman called you a spirit. It was obvious she heard you but I don't think she could see you."

"My grandmother could sense a man's power," Kimbel chirped from ahead of them. "She's always been blind as a bat for as long as I've known her. She always said that the spirits gave her the power to see clearer when in the presence of a powerful force. She could obviously see all of you, which means you must be powerful! She could hear alright, though." The latter bit was tacked on almost as an afterthought, and Rey noticed how he was carefully eliminated from the equation and blushed, looking down at his feet. Luca watched him silently.

_…Except she couldn't see me…_ Rey thought to dejectedly. He shook his head. His own petty feelings were unimportant. He was needed for this mission.

"What do you mean, the spirits?" Gou asked quickly, brushing away the tension before it had a chance to infect them all. Kimbel shrugged.

"I dunno," he replied. "Never been a spirit summoner myself, that's always been just my grandmother." His voice seemed to fall heavily from his lips as he spoke. Another tense silence loomed ominously over them all and Rey hastened to drive it away.

"It seemed as though the demon could see me, though," he observed. "Could it just not see me while possessing her body?" Luca looked thoughtful.

"Fair question," he mused. "I honestly have no idea. If it could just see you when it was in its true form—"

"I'm inclined to think that was the case," Judas interjected. "I honestly don't believe he could see Rey until he left the woman's body." Turning to Shin, he asked, "Shin, do you know anything about demons possessing humans? Have you read any books on the subject?" Shin nodded and bit his lip, thinking hard to remember any books he'd read that would help them.

"I remember having read something about this," he admitted. "But I can't quite remember if there was a section on demons possessing humans." He looked sheepishly at Judas, who waved it away easily.

"We'll just have to keep our eyes open when we arrive at the city," he said seriously. The other Saint Beasts nodded in agreement and fell into a heavy silence that reigned for the rest of their journey.

* * *

"Well, here it is!" Kimbel suddenly stopped and pointed ahead of him. The Saint Beasts looked ahead and saw a large sprawling before them. "That's Anglia."

"It," Shin paused to clear his throat. "It certainly is… vast." Rising from the city were the unmistakable sound of human voices yelling, speaking, laughing, and everything in between it seemed. Rey felt apprehension take hold of him as he looked at the city.

"And very lively," he added softly. Judas nodded.

"Shall we go?" he urged. Kimbel began to walk towards the city and the Saint Beasts followed, some excited, some a little frightened, some determined, all at least slightly nervous.

There was a large wooden gate surrounding the city with a door right in the center. As they approached the door, Kimbel reached up as high as he could and knocked hard on the wood with his little fist. A small window in the door opened and an elderly man looked out. His eyes stopped on the Saint Beasts and his face, for a minute, showed surprise. A moment later, it hardened and he glared at them.

"What business is it that brings you to Anglia after dark?" he demanded. Judas was about to answer when he noticed Kimbel jumping up and down and waving his arms.

"Come on, Nick, y'old coot, it's me! Go on, let us in!" he shouted. The man jumped and looked down at Kimbel. He had to strain a little bit to see him from the small window, but once he caught sight of him, his old face lifted into a smile. The door opened suddenly and the man's arms shot out to pull Kimbel into a tight but brittle embrace.

"Kimbel, you little rascal, is it really you?" he marveled, placing the child on the ground and looking him over. Kimbel blushed and gave him a lopsided smile.

"'Course it is, who'd you think it was?" he said. The man shook his head and lifted a hand to wipe his eyes.

"G'on through, then, boy," he said. "That upstart Ramsey'll be wanting to know your safe." Kimbel nodded and hugged the man once more. He whispered something into the old man's cloak which brought the man to tears and earned him another crushing hug. "Alright, that's enough of that! Go on, then, boy, and be sure to keep these knights with you, you hear?" Kimbel nodded and grabbed the reins of the mare once again. He smiled at the old man and waved exuberantly before heading into town, the confused Saint Beasts on his heels.

"You know that man?" Shin asked Kimbel quietly as they navigated their way through mostly empty streets and tried to ignore the loud sounds from the inns and taverns they passed. Kimbel nodded and dragged a hand across his face.

"Yeah," he said with a wet voice, sounding very close to tears. "He's my brother's father by marriage. My brother married a lowly woman even though my parents didn't want him to. They yelled at him but they couldn't get rid of him for it. They needed money from him and I could tell they still loved him." He was rambling again and Shin hurried forward to walk beside him.

"It's alright, you don't have to talk about it," he said for the second time. Kimbel looked at him with wide red-rimmed eyes and nodded. Shin smiled at him and straightened, placing a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder. Kimbel blushed and quickly averted his eyes, taking an almost subconscious step closer to Shin. Judas smiled to himself. Shin would have been a remarkable father to this boy, had he been born human.

They continued walking and Rey was struck by how different this place was from Heaven. First of all, practically everyone was awake. Normally, at an hour this late, all the angels would be asleep.

"Out o'th' way!" A man with a large cart nearly barreled over poor Gai, who barely had time to yelp and scurry to the side of the road. Had Gou not been there he might not have made it. The brunette angel watched the cart roll past with a look of angry distaste.

"Would anyone be offended if I said right off that I don't like this place?" he grumbled, pulling a growling Gai to his feet. Kimbel chuckled at Shin's side.

"Not a city boy, eh?" he smiled. "You knights country mice like me?" Gou scoffed and shook his head.

"I suppose so." Kimbel nodded and laughed lightly.

"Well, it's not so bad once you get used to it," he said truthfully. Judas almost laughed himself at that little voice. It was as if Kimbel was attempting to sound older than he was; as though he were trying to be a parent.

"So, where is it you're taking us?" he asked. Kimbel, before he could answer, yelped as the mare he led was suddenly spooked by a loud group of men crossing on the other side of the street.

"Hey!" he commanded, a little spooked himself. "Calm down, you great – urgh! Come on, girl, it's alright!" One of the men looked over to the commotion and whistled loudly.

"Oi, you fellas new here, are ya?" he called. "You'll be wantin' to head to the tavern, it'll be a helluva welcome fer ya…" His voice trailed off and he tipped his head back to pour down what must have been some sort of ale. Quite a bit of it missed his mouth. His companions cheered and shouted their agreement. Rey made a face and turned away.

"Charming," he muttered as the men went on their way. Shin shuddered and nodded.

"What manners," he mumbled in response.

"There it is!" Kimbel suddenly shouted, pointing to a large building a ways ahead of them. The Saints stopped.

"What's that?" Gai asked, voicing everyone's thoughts. Kimbel chuckled and pulled the mare along.

"That there is the most famous tavern in all of Anglia," he said proudly. "My friend, Ramsey, runs it. He's like family, you knights can trust him." He picked up his pace and the Saint Beasts followed, only slightly dismayed at the fact that this tavern was where most of the noise was emanating from.

As they approached the building, Kimbel suddenly veered off to the left and began to circle around it.

"There's a stable at the back," he explained. "My brother used to keep his horse back there all the time. I wonder if he's still there." He shrugged and clicked his tongue when the mare tried to stop, giving a disgruntled snort. The Saints followed the child into a large stable where they saw numerous horses in individual stalls, as well as a few young boys a little older than Kimbel tending to the horses. One of the boys, the oldest one it looked like, with large freckles and a shock of bright ginger hair, let out a yell when he saw the group entering the stable, and he ran over to them, a lopsided grin on his boyish freckled face.

"Kimbel!" he shouted, waving to get the boy's attention. Kimbel smiled and dropped the mare's rope to run to the ginger-haired boy.

"Danny!" Kimbel shouted. He jumped up at the boy, who caught him in his arms and swung him around, grabbing him securely before jamming a fist onto his head and rubbing roughly. Kimbel giggled and flailed playfully in the boy's arms.

"Jeez, Kimbel, we thought you was dead!" the boy exclaimed, putting Kimbel down and ruffling his hair once more. "Once we heard 'bout South, and… well, you didn't show up… we thought you—" He broke off and rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "Ah, never mind what we thought! You gotta get yourself in there, kid, I dun' think nobody else knows yer still alive." He suddenly noticed Kimbel's companions and gave them a two-fingered salute.

"Evenin' fellas," he said. "Can I help you with your horse? You can pay at the tavern or you can give me the money." The Saints noticed the hope on the boy's face as he said this and they felt a twinge of guilt, not having any money to pay for anything. Judas was about to speak up when Kimbel grabbed a bag that had been tied around the mare's neck.

"Oi, Danny, here!" he said excitedly. "I got money, look! I can pay you!" He was suddenly acting like a child, eager to please his older peers and brimming with energy. Danny laughed and took the bag into his hands, tossed it from one to the other.

"Well, lookit here," he marveled. "You got yourself a right pot of gold, Kim. I'll only be needing one piece, though." He took a gold piece from the bag before handing the sack back to Kimbel, who took it with a smile.

"Well, there you go," he said. "Should that be enough for you?" Danny grinned and winked.

"Yep," he responded, pretending to think it over. "That'll do just fine, kid." He took the rope and led the mare to one of the empty stalls. He went back up to the Saint Beasts and said seriously, "You fellas watch him for us? He'll be safe with you, won't he?" The Saints looked at each other and nodded.

"I promise you, no harm will come to him," Shin said, stepping forward and placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. Danny looked up at him cautiously, but Shin's eyes, the sincerity lapping in their depths, put his worries at ease. His friend would be safe with these knights, whoever they were.

"Alright, thanks," Danny mumbled gruffly, looking down with a blush on his face. Shin smiled and turned back to the others. He fought back a blush when he saw that Judas' eyes had been on him. They were sparkling now and the stupid angel was grinning, though at what, Shin did not know.

"Well, shall we go?" he asked. Gai nodded, suddenly excited.

"Yeah, come on!" He urged. "I wanna go check out that tav-ern!" He was marching out of the stable before anyone could stop him.

"Hey, Gai! Don't get ahead of yourself!" Gou shouted, hurrying after him. The four remaining chuckled to themselves and followed in the path of the exuberant angel and his exasperated friend, albeit at a much slower pace. Shin smiled at Kimbel and held out a hand, which Kimbel took without hesitation.

"G'bye, Danny!" he shouted. The freckled boy laughed and waved.

"You stay with those knights, kid, y'hear? Don't want no more trouble like they had in South!" he called back. Kimbel nodded solemnly and then skipped out of the stable, dragging Shin behind him. Rey couldn't fight the smile from his face as he heard his friend's laugh float through the air around him. He loved it when Shin laughed like that: unabashed and completely heartfelt. It was rare when that happened. Gai laughed like that all the time and he was loved for it. But Shin was quieter, always smiling and offering gentle comfort, never really partaking in the merriment of laughter. And for that reason, his laugh was special to Rey.

"I've never seen him like that." Luca's voice spoke his thoughts, as it always seemed to. Rey nodded.

"I wish he would laugh more often," he said wistfully. "His laugh is so beautiful." Luca nodded.

"Oi, Rey!" Gai suddenly appeared at his right shoulder with his hands behind his head. "What's taking so long? Come on, Gou and I have already been inside!" He broke out into one of his childish grins and grabbed Rey's arm. "Come on, Rey you gotta see it! It's so neat!" Rey yelped and managed to fire a glare Luca's way as he heard the taller angel laugh at his predicament.

"Ow, Gai, not so fast! Slow down! Gai!"

Gai only laughed.

And suddenly, Rey found himself inside the apparently locally famous tavern of Anglia. He looked around with wide eyes. It seemed so large in terms of the architecture, but then again, there were so many people inside, it seemed all the smaller! Rey saw men drinking and laughing together at tables, he saw them arguing at tables, he even saw a few small scale brawls going on! Rey swallowed nervously and reached a hand out to his left, expecting to feel Gai's small sharp shoulder, but instead his hand bumped a large muscular arm. Rey jumped and only barely bit back a yelp.

"Hey!" A rather large and intimidating man turned and glared at Rey. His beard was stained with his spit and the froth from his drink. He surveyed Rey critically, though drunkenly, through small beady eyes. He seemed to forget his anger immediately in favor of curiosity. "You a boy?" Rey blushed and indignation gave him voice.

"Yes, I am," he replied with a slight edge to his voice. The man squinted at him and the corner of his long mouth lifted upward. His hand flashed out and gripped Rey's chin, turning it to the left and then the right.

"Don' look much like one," he slurred. "Can' be more'n… say… couple o'years… Barely grown into yerslf." He paused to belch loudly. Rey winced. "You a squire, boy?" Rey suddenly wished he'd paid a little more attention to Shin's long rants about the odd human role of "knights" and their servants. He remembered hearing about squires, but he didn't know much about what they did. Still, this man was very drunk, and he was only looking for a yes or no answer.

"Yes," Rey replied, trying to pull himself away from the large drunk man who was quite smelly.

"Where's your knight?" the man asked. Rey blinked. His knight? Did that mean… Oh! Understanding suddenly hit Rey. The squire was the one who followed the knight around, and was considered a knight-in-training or something like that. Now he understood.

"Over there," Rey said impatiently, indicating to Luca, who had just entered behind Judas and was looking around with a veiled curiosity. The man looked over to the two new additions to the tavern's population and cocked his head.

"The fairer one?" Rey rolled his eyes, getting a little annoyed with this man's persistent questions, and opened his mouth to answer, rather shortly he might add, when a new voice interjected.

"Alright, I think that's well over enough, Berny." Rey turned and saw a tall well-built human standing in front of the both of them, hands on his hips, amused look on his face as he surveyed the scene. The large man immediately released Rey and clapped his hand on the arrival's shoulder.

"Well, if it ain't my old buddy!" he roared, taking another long swig from his tankard. The man chuckled and gave Berny a sharp jab to the stomach. The brute choked a little on his drink and massaged the area but seemed to know it was only play.

"Oh, g'on, then fella! I's only talkin' to th'guy!" he complained in his drunken slur. "Ay, 'ja know he's a squire? Haven't seen one o'them in a long time! Ay!" He took another long drink, clapped his friend on the shoulder one last time, and then staggered off to find some other soul to connect with. The tall man watched him go with a grin and chuckled again before he turned back to Rey.

"Still in one piece, are you?" he said with a grin. Rey noted that this man was slightly different from the other humans he'd seen so far. He was taller for one thing, taller than Rey even. And that was hard to achieve, as Rey was tall for his build and age, even amongst angels. His face was fair but masculine, sharp and angular but not square or flat. His hair was mussed but it seemed almost purposeful, as though he was aware it looked the way it did and wanted to keep it that way. His tall well-built body was streamlined and Rey guessed he probably had excellent reflexes. Overall, the man was very handsome by human standards and perhaps even by angel standards.

Rey jumped as the man snapped his fingers in front of his face.

"What-?" he began lamely. The man laughed.

"Not used to this, squire?" he smiled, waving a perfect hand carelessly towards all the chaos and noise of the tavern. Rey winced as he saw a man vomit behind a table and shook his head.

"Not – not really," he said with a swallow. The man laughed and turned to stand at Rey's side while surveying the tavern with him.

"It is a bit… wild in here, isn't it?" he mused lightly. "I never noticed it myself." He laughed again. "Well, I suppose I could give you the grand tour, if you'd like." Rey looked at him, a little perplexed.

"I… suppose," he conceded, unsure as to the proper response to inquiries like this. The man laughed and shook his head.

"You know, you are something else, squire," he said with a grin. His eyes sparkled as he looked at Rey and the angel suddenly had to look away, fighting back a blush. Who was this human?

As if sensing his question, the man swept him a mock bow and indicated to himself.

"I'm Noll," he said. "May I have the honor of your name, squire?" Rey was so taken aback, he didn't think twice.

"R-Rey," he answered. Noll nodded and seemed to turn the word over in his mind.

"Rey," he repeated in his smooth voice. Rey shivered, feeling as though he should be careful around this man for some reason. Noll smiled and offered Rey his arm.

"Shall we go?" he asked. Rey looked at his arm for a moment, hesitant to do anything. Before he could voice his hesitation, however, he found himself on Noll's arm, being led through the tavern.

"Well, now you know old Bernie," was the first thing that Noll said. Rey nodded, avoiding eye contact and Noll continued, unaware. "He can seem a bit much, but he's really the gentlest giant you'll ever meet. He'd never hurt so much as a fly, I can promise you that.

"And I think there's a lesson here that you'd do well to learn." Here, Noll paused and turned to Rey, catching his gaze despite Rey's attempts to prevent it. "Not everyone in here is a drunk trying to pick a fight. You go around with that attitude and you'll actually be more of a target for one. They'll think you're looking down on 'em. So, best advice you could get? Be friendly." With a small tug, he pulled Rey along.

He seemed ready to speak again when Rey suddenly felt a brush from behind. Despite Noll's earlier assurance, Rey was still wary and whipped around with a small yelp. The sight of an amused and underdressed woman met his eyes and Noll followed his gaze quickly. The woman grinned a toothy grin, showing slightly yellowed teeth, and fingered a string at the low-hanging dress she wore.

"Having fun, are we, squire?" she purred in a lilted drawl. "Perhaps, for a price, you might 'ave some more?" Rey flushed from head to toe as the woman slowly advanced on him, but Noll thankfully stepped in.

"Off with you, harlot," he said firmly, interposing himself between her and Rey. She stepped back and gave him a look of mock hurt and he leaned in close to her with sparkling eyes. "Although, your offer is none too repugnant to me. I may very well take you up on it." He swept his eyes down and up her body once before he smirked and turned back to Rey as she sauntered smugly away.

"Friendliest people in a tavern, squire," he began, "are the whores. There're lots of men who'll pay a hefty price to have their appetites satisfied, and you look like one still growing into his appetites. A seasoned whore can take advantage of that and cheat you out of far too much money for her services. Just something to be wary of." Rey swallowed thickly and nodded, following Noll perplexedly onward.

"Oh, would you look at that!" Noll's suddenly loud and excited voice startled Rey, and he turned to face his temporary and very odd companion in confusion.

"What?" he asked. Noll turned a mischievous grin onto him and indicated with his head to a young man sitting at one of the tables, an odd-looking instrument Shin was sure to know the name of strapped to his back.

"We haven't had a troubadour in these parts in years," Noll explained, looking upon the animated young man with eager eyes. "He'll be asked to play sometime soon, he looks like he's been here for a while." Again, that mischievous and very characteristic smirk was turned on Rey, who listened in confused silence. "And you oughta know, squire; there's no better way to end a good night of drinking and fornicating than with music." Before he could respond – and before he could ask what "fornicating" was – Noll's arm had grabbed him roughly and was dragging him towards the young man.

The spritely troubadour barely looked up when they approached him; he was far too engrossed in the epic tale he was spinning for his listeners, and by now much of the tavern was listening. Across from him, Rey spotted Gai and Gou, busy looking curiously at an unattended tankard of what must have been that crude stuff these people called a drink. If he didn't know better, Rey would say that Gai was eyeing it a bit too curiously. Shin was approaching them, and he had no idea where Luca or Judas was. None of them had spotted him yet.

Before he could call out to them, there was a loud shout by the audience of eager tavern listeners before raucous laughter filled the building. Rey looked first at the troubadour, whose face was shining with his laughter, then to Noll, whose eyes were crinkling at the edges from his wide grin.

"And thus was the nobleman, greatest Hero of his land, sent on his humble way by Nancy the Tavern Wench!" the troubadour finished, taking a swig of his drink and slamming it back down to the table to end the tale. Laughter and cheers rang throughout the room and several of the men clapped and drank to the comical troubadour, who laughed and clapped along with them.

"Sing!"

"Aye, give us a song!"

"Play!" The listeners called and shouted demands to the jovial young man, who ignored them at first until they became far too numerous for him to ignore. Smiling, he unstrapped the instrument hanging from his back and set it up against his left thigh, resting its neck against his shoulder. He reached down to his feet, by which sat a burlap bag, and pulled into his hand a thick wooden bow stringed with a tight sinewy material. Shin would know about that as well, Rey hypothesized.

Suddenly, the troubadour looked right at him, and Rey froze as that young face broke out into a roguish grin. He pointed the bow at Rey and soon all eyes were on him.

"Aye, I'll sing for you," he addressed the crowd. "And if I can't make yon squire piss himself from laughing so hard, I shall be hung by my toes and stoned till I sing before the Highest King o'them all!" A merry cry of agreement met his challenge and Rey's face flamed. Personally, he thought that Noll might have been the better person to try to make laugh, as he was already well on his way. Rey took an annoyed step away from him as he clutched his stomach, in the throes of delight.

_"Once a rich king lived, with his daughter lived he well,"_

The room grew quickly quiet as the troubadour began to sing, deftly plucking the strings of his instrument, bow still in hand.

_ "But of power, of riches this story does not tell,"_

_ "It tells us of a man who wanted for a wife,"_

_ "It tells us of a man who would live wifeless all his life." _

The listeners chuckled and grinned at each other before the next verse began.

_"In the castle, the princess lived, she was known across the land,"_

_ "Suitors from everywhere would plead her father for her hand," _

_ "For upon her head the golden locks, the Golden Locks of the Sun,"_

_ "Had earned her the epithet the Fair Golden Lock-éd One."_

There was a loud whoop of appreciation at this, and Rey found himself becoming annoyed at the man who'd made the noise, for he had actually been quite enjoying the song. Though he would never admit it to anyone, Rey sincerely hoped the "wifeless man" really wouldn't remain "wifeless" and that maybe the Fair Golden Locked lady would become his wife.

_"We turn to the man who could not find a wife for himself,"_

_ "He also was a kingly sort, but alas he was a whelp,"_

Laughter filled the tavern again at the purposefully poor rhyme and Rey sighed quietly. It looked as though this was going to shape up to be a very crude song indeed. The troubadour grinned and stomped his foot once to accentuate the humorous line. Rey could now see Gai, Gou, and Shin watching with the rest of the crowd, and of them only Gai seemed truly amused. Rey rolled his eyes. He probably didn't even know what a "whelp" was.

_"An ass' ass was brighter than ever his face could be,"_

_ "He had no son, and many questioned his fertility." _

Men began to laugh in earnest now, slamming their fists down upon the table in a show of masculine good humor, and tankards were quickly emptied, as though the obviously mocking last line was a sign to start drinking. Rey didn't quite understand the joke, as he normally believed the word "fertile" to apply to soil for farming or other such situations.

The troubadour paused in his singing and began to slide the bow along the strings of his instrument, playing a lively vibrant tune, to which many men started clapping their hands.

_"Of the princess, this king had heard, and wished they to be wed," _

_ "And he simply could not wait to take the Fair One to his bed," _

_ "He found his best knight and he sent him on his way," _

_ "To go and bring the Fair One to him in three days." _

The troubadour's eyes caught Rey's and Rey blushed, somehow knowing that he was being scrutinized. He felt someone nudge his elbow and turned to see Noll sending him a covert amused glance. He feigned ignorance which earned him a chuckle.

_"When the knight returned with his prize, the king came out to see,"_

_ "How much justice the rumors paid to his bride to be," _

_ "The golden locks enamored him, a happy joy filled his heart," _

_ "He dragged his bride away, so his will he could impart." _

For some reason, Rey had the feeling he was trying to imply something with that phrase. His suspicions were confirmed when the crowd crowed again and shared another quick round of drinks before the troubadour continued.

_"In his chambers they spent the night, but from that no child came,"_

_ "Over this the dull king puzzled with ass-facéd shame,"_

_ "That no heir would come of this, he once asked me why?"_

_ "I said, 'cause of that which dangles 'twixt those Fair Golden Lock-éd thighs." _

_This_ Rey understood completely. His mouth dropped at the reference but the tavern, which seemed to be waiting for that particular moment, exploded in laughter. Beside him, Rey could hear Noll all but collapsing in laughter. Across from him, Rey could see Shin turning red, and for some reason the sight of it amused him. Perhaps the general high spirits of these men (to put it lightly) were infectious and had somehow affected him, but Rey soon found himself chuckling at the sight of Shin embarrassed because of the reference.

And the troubadour took that moment to glance over at Rey, his face splitting into a wide grin at the sight of the chuckling angel. His eyes danced and he pointed his bow at Rey again. Rey feared he would speak, but all he did was continue to smile, watching Rey as everyone around him succumbed to merriment. Rey wasn't quite sure what to do, so he smiled back tentatively. The troubadour laughed and shook his head, turning back to his adoring crowd. Most of the men had yet to contain themselves.

Rey cast a covert glance towards Noll, saw that he was still laughing a bit uncontrollably, and quietly slipped across the tavern to where Shin stood with Gou and Gai. Gai was laughing hysterically, and Rey had no idea if that was because he actually understood the song or if it was simply because everyone around him was laughing.

He moved to stand beside Shin and smiled at his red face, aware that his own must have looked about the same only moments ago.

"Apparently, this troubadour tradition is a very popular one," he said. Shin nodded and cleared his throat, still red.

"Yes, it is," was all he could bring himself to say. He turned his head downward and let his bangs shield his face, and Rey smiled at him sympathetically.

"Well, I'm glad to see no one got lost." Rey looked around at Judas' voice. Luca was not with him.

"Where's Luca?" he asked. Judas indicated towards the direction from which he had just come.

"He's with Kimbel," he replied. "Being introduced to that Ramsey figure his friend mentioned. Apparently, he's the owner of this tavern and was a very close friend of the child's family." Rey nodded and turned to look at Shin, who hadn't looked up once since Judas arrived. Judas cast him a curious glance.

"Something wrong, Shin?" he asked, lips twitching. Shin shook his head and Rey could just picture the little vein right beside his forehead that was the only signal of his discomfort.

"Well, Rey, you didn't tell me you had companions," a familiar voice chimed from behind them. "Had I known I wouldn't have been so rude as to steal you away from them." Rey tried not to visibly deflate as Noll walked over to them with smooth long strides. The five Saints turned to face him and he grinned.

"An honor," he said to all of them. "I'm Noll, a recent acquaintance of your friend's. Might I beg the pleasure of your names?" For some reason, Rey got the impression that he wasn't entirely sincere.

Goh and Gai exchanged a glance and then looked at Judas, whose eyes had yet to leave Noll.

"Judas," he said, his caution well concealed. "And we are Rey's companions." Noll seemed suddenly more alert and his eyebrow lifted as he surveyed Judas. Suddenly he seemed less confrontational and a bit defensive.

"I suppose these are all the introductions I'm going to get," He said with a smirk, his confidence apparently still intact. Rey looked between Judas and Noll, aware of Shin doing the same. "Well, that's alright. If I may ask, are you simply passing through, or have you some purpose here?" Definitely defensive. Rey got the distinct impression that Noll did not particularly like Judas.

Judas as well seemed very cautious about speaking to this man.

"We are here for answers," he said after a moment. Noll looked at him with eyes every bit as sharp as his.

"Answers," he parroted. "What kind of answers, to what kind of questions?" He looked from Judas to Shin to Gou to Gai and, finally, to Rey. "You know something of this, don't you? These are your companions." Somehow, this sounded more like an accusation than an observation. Rey looked to his fellow Saints briefly and turned nervously back to Noll. He opened his mouth to speak, but his voice froze in his throat. Noll continued to watch him, something slowly changing in his eyes as Rey struggled for words.

"I…" Rey began but fell short when he saw the look in Noll's eyes. Noll took in a deep breath and the pulled a smile onto his face, turning back to the group.

"We are here for the tales of the demons," Shin suddenly spoke up. Everyone looked at him and Noll blinked as though seeing Shin for the first time.

"Demons?" he asked, his voice turning abruptly cold and icy. "What demons?" Shin stepped forward and allowed his golden eyes to pierce into Noll's brown ones.

"We have heard stories of a destructive evil from Hell wreaking havoc on the people here," he explained. "We have also heard of the massacre in South Anglia." Noll flinched as though Shin's words physically pained him.

"There are few who haven't," he spat, glaring at Shin with surprising malice and loathing. "And that's why you're here? To laugh at the death of our neighbors and flaunt your strength? Knights have no compassion if they're foreign."

"That is not why we have come—"

"No? Were you not here to offer your services and protection?" Noll sneered. Shin stepped back and swallowed nervously, his attempt at gaining information having gone terribly wrong.

"Hey, we're not laughing at you!" Gai piped up, stepping towards Noll aggressively. "We just want to help, what's wrong with that!" Gou stepped forward and placed a restraining hand upon Gai's shoulder before turning to Noll.

"I don't see why you should be offended by our actions," he pointed out calmly. "If our intention is to help—"

"Is it truly?" Noll's voice was sharp and unyielding. Rey was beginning to get frustrated.

"Yes, it is!" he said loudly, unable to stop himself. Noll turned to him with challenging eyes, daring him to convince him that what they claimed was the truth. "We came because we heard that there might be demons here, and we truly do wish to help." Noll was silent, scrutinizing him carefully. Rey tried not to look away, though the temptation to fold beneath that hard stare was very great.

Noll finally drew breath to speak but was interrupted.

"What's going on here?" A flood of relief washed through Rey as Luca approached them and looked curiously from one to the next. Rey's heart fluttered uncomfortably when Luca's eyes lingered on him before moving on.

"It's nothing, Luca, we just—" he started.

"Noll!" Startled by the high and excited shriek, the Saint Beasts turned to see Kimbel rush towards Noll with a burst of energy. Luca alone seemed not to be surprised. He watched with a small smile as the child pelted at Noll.

"Kimbel!" Noll's disbelieving gasp caused Rey to turn and look at him in confusion. This was not the tone Noll was using when speaking with him or any of the other Saints. He seemed frozen for a moment but when Kimbel was within arm's reach, he knelt down, reached out, and pulled the boy into his arms for a tight embrace.

"Kimbel!" he exclaimed as he stood to his feet, the child still within his grasp. "Good God, Kimbel, I can't believe it!" He spun the child around and Kimbel giggled wildly, clinging to him as though he were a lifeline.

"I was lucky," Kimbel said sheepishly, the excitement still palpable in his voice. "These knights saved me!" Noll seemed to suddenly remember the presence of Judas and the others. Turning to them stiffly, he voiced his confusion.

"You aided him?" Judas nodded.

"We found him with his possessed grandmother," he said honestly. "We took him from her and he led us here." Noll's grip on Kimbel tightened and the boy squirmed in his grasp but made no move to escape the circle of his arms. He took a step towards Judas and looked at him hard.

"…So you can protect innocents," he said in a quiet voice. Judas nodded. "I suppose that will have to do. I have no power to remove you from this town. But I will tell you, I feel no safer with you here." He turned around with a thoroughly confused Kimbel still in his arms and began to walk away. His eyes passed over Rey for a brief moment and Rey could have sworn he saw them soften if only for that moment.

Suddenly, Rey was very confused.

* * *

**Hey, this is not dead! Yay! Okay, so first off, the song I put in there was just for kicks and giggles, cuz I wanted to show a little bit of medieval humor in the context of the story. I wrote the lyrics based off of a story I know (a fairytale) called "The Fair One with Golden Locks". I kinda butchered it for the sake of humor... I guess the scene also shows just how little Rey - and by extension, angels in general - knows about sex. My headcanon for the angels in Saint Beast is that they are really sheltered by Zeus and don't even know about the concept of sex because it has no practical use for them. **

**By the way, for those who didn't catch this, the human world at the time this story takes place is going through the middle ages. The timing during all of Saint Beast is a little iffy to me cuz in the 13 episode anime, it seems like middle ages/transition to Renaissance, but then we get to the OVA/OAV and it goes to modern times. So it's really confusing, but the middle ages seemed more romantic to me, so I set the human world in that time. It also makes sense because the people of that time often did believe in demons as physical entities who had the power to kill humans, drag them to hell, give them illnesses, etc. Any questions? **

**And if anyone's confused about Noll's hostility towards Judas, I imagined that to be because after the destruction of South Anglia, knights from all over came to Anglia as though defeating the evil that felled South Anglia was a test of their skill. He's been dealing with insincere knights who only want glory and don't care for the people of Anglia themselves, and he thinks Judas and the other Saints are just more of the same. He thinks Rey's innocence is just endearing, though, so he's fine bantering with him.  
**

**Okay, so I hope this clears up at least SOME of the issues from the previous chapter... Yes, I know there are still a few things that raise more questions about where this is all headed, but that's the beauty of plot twists! Hopefully, they keep at least some of you interested! And if anyone has any questions that they just need to have answered, or if something is just way too confusing, shoot me a PM or ask in a review. :D  
**


	5. The Crack

"For you boys? Room's free. After what you've done for the little lad, I'd give you all the horses in my stable if I could." The man—Ramsey, according to Luca and Kimbel—let out a rough laugh, shaking his head and ducking down under the counter. Rey thought he saw a glimmer of something wet in the corners of Ramsey's eyes. He smiled gently.

"We were glad to have helped," Judas said sincerely, a calm and gentle look on his own face as he spoke to the owner of the tavern. He paused for a moment, and Rey gave him a curious look.

Shin and the others had gone to the rooms which Ramsey had allotted to give them for the duration of their stay, leaving Judas and Rey to speak to the man about the payment.

"…Might I ask you a question, sir?" Judas asked almost hesitantly after a moment. Ramsey's brow furrowed and he gave Judas a slightly wizened smile.

"Only if you call me Ramsey," he said with a grin. "None of this 'sir' business, you're the knight, lad." Judas allowed his lips to twitch into a smile but Rey couldn't help but feel that it was a bit forced.

"What exactly happened in South Anglia?"

At this, Ramsey's shoulders stiffened and the spark of his smile left his eyes, leaving an expression of stretched weariness on his face. He looked around carefully, left then right, and Rey saw that his eyes lingered on the door through which Noll had taken Kimbel. He sighed heavily and turned back to Judas.

"Well, I wasn't there," he began. "If I was, I'd be dead as they are." He fell silent for a moment, breathing in deeply, but Judas said nothing to rush him.

"We didn't even know it happened until your lot came." Rey's brow furrowed in confusion. Their lot? Did he mean knights? Had there been more before the Saint Beasts? "It wasn't even them first, it was—" Here he paused and tried to swallow, only to freeze before he could. Judas's body tensed and Rey had to wonder what was going through his mind.

Ramsey suddenly leaned forward and gave Judas and Rey an imploring look.

"Don't—" he began in a choked whisper. "Don't tell the lad about this. Please, don't tell little Kim." Judas swallowed thickly and nodded, Rey weakly mimicking his actions. Ramsey took a deep breath, nodding in return, and resumed.

"It was his brother," he finally said, his tone solemn. "It was Kimbel's brother. He got here first. He was pretty badly beaten up, and he told us. It took a while for him to get the words out, but he told us what happened. Told us that he was the only one who survived, they killed everybody else. We asked him who done it, and he couldn't say." This time the breath he tried to pull into his lungs was shaky, and he ran a trembling hand through his hair. Rey's brow furrowed and he wondered a bit at his sudden apprehension. What—what was this man going to say next?

"Well, he didn't—he didn't make it," Ramsey went on, the admission tumbling from his lips like an uncoordinated child on his first attempt at walking. "We… we tried everything, but he—you shoulda' seen it, fellas. The way he—the way his body was—I didn't think there was anything out there that could _do that_ to a man." He paused to shake his head, his eyes wide and not quite focused. Rey wondered if he could really see them at all.

"But he did manage to tell us, at the end that is, what it was that killed all them villagers," he said. Judas moved in reaction to this admission and Rey jumped slightly, having momentarily forgotten he was there. He flashed Judas a glance, his eyes lingering on his friend when he saw the tension in his figure. Rey was normally not the most perceptive of beings—that was Shin—but when Judas got this way, it was obvious to all of them. Luca often said that was because Judas was so unused to hiding. The way they were all raised, they'd never had reason to hide anything about themselves or their feelings because Paradise was the land in which they believed they'd lived. Secrets had no place in Paradise.

"What did he say it was?" Judas asked, and Rey noted that the tension had even spread to his voice. He wanted to reach out, offer some level of support, meager though it would be, and his hand twitched at his side, but he hesitated. He wasn't Luca, or Shin, or even Gou. He had a feeling that his attempt at comfort would be accepted, tolerated, but not valued to the same extent that theirs was.

Rey blinked. Where had that thought come from?

"He, um…" Rey snapped back to attention as Ramsey spoke again. "He said that—that…" Ramsey trailed off and slumped forward onto his elbows, one of his arms coming up to his head and making an odd gesture; very rapidly, Ramsey's fingers touched his forehead, then his chest, his left shoulder, then his right. Rey blinked in confusion and he turned toward Judas, hoping to exchange a glance with him, confirm perhaps that he wasn't the only one who'd found that odd, but Judas's attention was fixed upon Ramsey. Rey quickly followed his example.

"He said that—that they were these… these huge _things._ Monstrous-like an' unnatural. He, uh—" Again, there was a pause and Ramsey looked around again, right, left, behind him, and then leaned forward to speak in more hushed tones to Judas.

"He—he said they were—they were… demons," he finished in an unintentionally ominous voice, filled with a shaking fear. Rey swallowed, having expected that from the beginning of this confrontation, but still not liking the reality of it. He turned to Judas to see how he would react.

"And then he died," Ramsey tacked on in a whisper.

"How many know that demons were the cause of South Anglia's destruction?" Judas asked, his voice quiet but hard. Ramsey shrugged, shaking his head.

"I reckon the whole town's heard the rumors," he said. "We got ourselves a right scare. I'm sure if you knights are here, that means you've heard all the goings-on? You wouldn't be the first." Judas nodded solemnly.

"I have heard of the fear which seems to be compelling people to—"

"It's a right bloodbath," Ramsey cut across Judas a little viciously. "Last week? Little old widower trips and falls into the merchant's daughter. Merchant accuses him of being a lecher. Says there's a demon in him. Has him hanged, makes him kiss the cross, everything. A day later, the merchant's daughter is called a demon whore, someone breaks into their home that night and kills her in her sleep. Got the whole town in an uproar about it. Was she the demon or was he? Now we've got folk running all around beating each other and sticking each other." He shook his head again. "I've gotta tell you, it's bad for business." He straightened then and cleared his throat, sucking in his lips as he tried to regain composure. He blinked his eyes and roughly jabbed at them with the heel of his palm.

"That all I can do for you, sirs?" he asked, his easy-going cheeriness strained and forced. Rey tried to swallow, but his throat was dry and his jaw was locked. He turned almost mechanically to Judas to see what he would do. He noticed immediately that Judas seemed to be in much the same condition as he.

"Thank you, si—Ramsey," Judas caught himself. "I think that's all I need to know." Ramsey nodded, stiff and overly formal. Judas bowed his head stiffly in thanks. To Rey, the whole thing looked far too forced and polite. His brow furrowed. He had never seen Judas act this way before.

But then, there were many times, even in Heaven, when his eyes were turned elsewhere.

He followed Judas silently to one of the three rooms they were given.

"Apparently, we are seen by these people as knights and squires," Shin was saying as Judas and Rey entered the room. Gou, Luca, and Gai were all there as well. "One squire to every knight, I suppose, is the best way to go about things." He nodded and looked around at them all. Gai's brow furrowed.

"What's a squire?" he asked curiously. His face suddenly became thoughtful. "Someone called me that earlier."

"And you almost punched them," Gou added as a mumble. Gai shot him an annoyed look, growling lightly in his throat. Shin gave Gai a small smile.

"A squire is basically the one who serves the knight," he explained. "That's the simplest definition. And a knight is like a warrior. But here, on earth, it's also a mark of nobility." He turned from Judas, to Luca, to Gou. "So people might ask you what your house is, or what nobility it is you come from." Luca's brow furrowed.

"It's inherited?" he asked. Shin nodded.

"Yes," he replied. "There are romantic stories of peasants rising to knighthood, but this is very rare. In actuality, a knight basically means you're a noble. They can afford armor and weapons and horses and the like because they're rich. Peasants aren't exactly that… well off." He looked around expectantly, reminding Rey of tutors from their younger days, asking them if they had any questions about a lesson.

Gai was apparently still confused.

"Wait, what's nobility?" he asked. Shin responded patiently.

"Think of it as the higher class angels," he answered. "You know the ranking system in Heaven?" Gai nodded. "Well, think of the highest ranking angels as the nobility. The middle ranking angels and the lower ranking angels would be the equivalent of the lower classes here. Does that make sense?" Gai was silent for a moment, his brow scrunched as he thought it all through. Eventually, though, he grinned and nodded.

"Got it!" he said. "So who're the 'knights' and who're the 'squires'?" He looked around at all of them before immediately raising his hand. "I call being a knight!" Gou rolled his eyes but refrained from speaking, looking to Shin instead to make the final call. He was the one who knew the most about this tradition anyway. Judas and Luca were waiting patiently with their eyes on Shin as well. Shin opened his mouth to continue.

Rey cleared his throat a little uncertainly, his gaze moving to Luca.

"Uh, well," he said, Luca holding his gaze in a way that Rey found to be extremely disconcerting. "Someone asked me if I was a squire and I told him that you were my knight…" Luca nodded, turning back to Shin. He and Judas seemed incredibly serious about this whole thing. They were hardly ever this tightlipped. Rey's confused look went unnoticed.

"That takes care of that," Luca said. "I'll be Rey's knight. What next, Shin?" Shin nodded and looked over to Gai and Gou.

"Gai, you said that someone called you a squire?" he asked. Gai nodded, growing a little indignant at the memory. Shin went on before he could launch himself into an annoyed tirade. "Then you'll be Gou's squire, and he'll be your knight. Does that work for you two?" Gou nodded and Gai grumbled in reluctant agreement. Shin turned back to Judas.

"Then I suppose that leaves Judas and myself," he said, his voice only slightly nervous. "Judas, I shall be the squire and you the knight?" Judas nodded.

"And I think it makes sense for every 'knight' and his 'squire' to share a room," Gou offered. "Since we have three, and that seems to be the way this tradition would work?" He looked to Shin for confirmation. Shin nodded.

"I agree," he said. Judas's nod was still very stiff and Rey noticed that he hadn't lost any of the tension from their earlier encounter. He turned toward the door and began to walk out.

"Then, if that is settled, Luca, I'd like to have a word with you please," he requested in a terse voice even as he was out the door. Luca's brow furrowed and he followed without a word to the others. Rey was left to stare with perplexed eyes at the door through which they had just exited. Slowly, he turned to Shin, whose eyes held a far subtler version of Rey's confusion in their depths. Or at least, Rey assumed that's what that misty unreadable look in Shin's eyes meant. He could always guess but he could never be certain, even after all these years as the angel's friend.

Sometimes, it was woefully obvious to Rey how imperceptive he was. It really had to be something if Judas's and Luca's discomfort was so great that even he could see it.

"What was _that?_" Gai's questioned echoed in the room and no one seemed to have an answer.

* * *

Rey was on something of a mission. They hadn't seen Kimbel since that… confrontation with Noll, and Rey was a little curious as to what in the name of Heaven had happened between all of them. One moment, he couldn't seem to escape Noll, was being mercilessly teased by him, and the next, Noll was accusing them all of insincerity, calling them liars. Rey wanted to find out why. Perhaps he could even gather something useful to tell the others.

And besides that, everyone seemed to be doing their own thing, with Luca and Judas still away discussing whatever it was they were both so nervous about.

"Excuse me, um, but do you know where I can find Noll?" Rey asked, approaching Ramsey a little uncertainly. The owner of the tavern looked up at him in bemusement.

"You look a little lost on your feet," he remarked. "Can you find your own nose without that knight of yours?" He chuckled as Rey reached up to indignantly touch his own nose, spluttering, "Of course I can!" Ramsey raised his hands in a peace gesture.

"Calm down, there, squire, I's only joking," he said, his amusement still coloring his voice. Rey blushed and immediately slapped his hand at his side, glaring at Ramsey.

"My question, please?" he asked, trying to sound firm and serious. Ramsey didn't look to be taking him any more seriously than before, though.

"He lives down in the South District," he said. "Dead center. Can't miss it." Rey's brow furrowed. Well, that was all well and good, but how did one… _get_ to the South District? Ramsey seemed to sense his predicament because he leaned toward Rey slightly.

"I'll show you," he said simply. Rey's blush seemed to get worse. There were times when he really disliked his face for doing this to him so much.

"Alright, squire, you'll probably want to stay close," Ramsey warned, leading Rey easily out into the streets. Rey did as he was told, following Ramsey a little cautiously out into the world of Anglia. As soon as they were out in the streets, Rey was on edge, wondering first of all, if the people in the streets would be in the same condition as those in the bar; and wondering second of all, if any of them were possessed by demons. He wondered if he could take them on alone in that case. And if he did, what would the humans think once they saw his true abilities. He knew they couldn't see his true appearance. The cloaks Zeus had given the Saint Beasts gave them the illusion of a human appearance, so that was all well and good. But a human appearance wouldn't really help much if Rey started shooting ice at people. They might well think he was a demon as well.

Sighing to himself, Rey pushed the thoughts aside and hurried to keep up with Ramsey's brisk pace.

They walked for what felt like a very long time, and the cityscape slowly changed as they went. Rey found himself growing warier the further into this South District they went. The buildings seemed less cared for, more rag-tag, and there were a number of people who weren't living in buildings at all. In fact, a good portion of them, Rey found, were obviously trying to make homes for themselves out of what they found on the streets. Many of them watched Rey and Ramsey pass with mild and gruff interest. Rey tried not to look at them for too long, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and shame.

"He'll be right over there, squire," Ramsey said suddenly, pulling Rey out of his thoughts. The Saint Beast hurried forward to stand beside Ramsey and his gaze tracked the path of Ramsey's finger. His eyes landed upon a very old looking building right in the center of the street and, from the looks of things, probably in the center of the very square they were in at the moment. It was by far the largest building Rey had seen in the district. Rey's eyebrows rose as he looked the building over. Ramsey grinned at his expression.

"Told you ya couldn't miss it, didn't I?" he teased, letting his finger drop. "You know your way back, squire?" Rey looked over at him in confusion.

"You're not staying?" he asked, a hint of nervousness creeping into his voice. Ramsey shook his head.

"Bar won't run itself, you know," he said in a rough voice, shrugging his shoulders and avoiding Rey's eyes. "But, hey, Noll'll take you back. He won't mind, he's taken quite a shine to you." Giving Rey an encouraging smile, Ramsey nudged his side in a "go get 'em" gesture that Rey just found odd. Without another word—and before Rey could say a word—Ramsey turned and walked briskly back the way they'd come, his head bowed forward slightly, shoulders hunched up. Rey's brow scrunched in confusion.

_Nothing to do now, but just go find Noll_, Rey thought. He supposed, as an afterthought, that it would have been a bit easier had Ramsey told him what floor Noll was living on. The building looked a lot like an old mansion, it even resembled several of the manses in Heaven, though to a much smaller scale. And it really didn't look as though it was in the best of conditions.

Rey moved toward it, eyes moving rapidly over its exterior, scanning the people who came in, went out. As he approached it, he began to get more strange looks from the people around him, but he ignored them determinedly.

As soon as he walked inside the building, however, a terrible stench overwhelmed his nose and he couldn't help the slight gag that twisted up in response. One of the men sitting in the corner, an older man with gray hair and fragile limbs, chortled.

"The pretty page can't take a bit of shit, can he?" he mumbled to himself. The man sitting beside him laughed. Rey ignored them, looking around for Noll, hoping to see him before he had to ask someone about him. He really didn't want to look more like an idiot than he already did.

"Can I help you, boy?" a bored voice cut through his nervousness. Rey turned and saw a woman walking toward him, her eyebrow lifted in an expression Rey wasn't sure he liked. She stopped in front of him and waited for him to answer her question. Rey wasn't quite sure what to say right then. He wasn't exactly very experienced with women, considering the fact that they didn't exist in Heaven, aside from the Goddess whom Rey had never met. Combine that with his already abysmal social skills and he knew he was in for one very awkward exchange.

The woman waited, getting more and more impatient by the second. Rey kept trying to come up with something to say, anything that would give the impression that he wasn't just a tongue-tied angel posing as a squire.

"If you don't have any business here, boy, then off with you!" the woman finally snapped, throwing her hands up and startling Rey. His face began to turn read and he wanted to tell it to stop, but he knew that wouldn't do him any good whatsoever. He was ready to leave, though, if only to get away from these unfriendly people, but a voice stopped him as he turned around.

"Rey?" Rey turned to see Noll, only marginally surprised at the relief that flooded through him. He gave a nervous wave and walked quickly over to the human, wanting to get away from the angry air the snappish woman was exuding.

"Noll," he replied, trying to sound confident and firm and like he knew exactly why he was there. Noll looked him over, slight surprise showing on his features for a moment before his face hardened.

"If you're here to see Kimmy—" he began.

"That's only part of it," Rey cut across quickly, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "I also just wanted… just wanted to talk to you." Noll gave him a look that said very clearly he didn't believe a word Rey was saying. Rey felt himself growing intensely uncomfortable under the scrutiny of Noll's heavy stare.

"I—Well, I just wanted—I—"

"Alright, don't strain yourself," Noll said, letting out an exasperated breath and turning away from Rey. "Wait here." With that he disappeared down a corridor, leaving Rey baffled and confused in his wake.

He reappeared minutes later, a skipping Kimbel holding his hand, a beaming smile on his face. He waved happily when he saw Rey and Rey smiled and returned the gesture. The angel turned to give Noll a look of askance and Noll barely shrugged, eyes somewhat hard and trained on Rey suspiciously. Rey's look of askance became a look of disbelief. He said nothing however, feeling suddenly very tired. He shook his head and waited for Noll to speak.

"Kim, how'd you feel about a walk?" Noll asked, his eyes softening as he looked down at Kimbel. Kimbel nodded, grinning.

"I say yea!" he declared, pulling Noll's arm. "The knight's coming with us, right?" He looked from Rey to Noll. "What is your name, anyway?" He paused. "I don't know any of your names, actually." He looked so contemplative, Rey chuckled.

"I'm Rey," he said with a smile, bending forward in a small bow. Kimbel grinned and bowed back, a much more exaggerated motion.

"And I'm Kimbel," he said enthusiastically. "You ready?" Rey nodded.

"Whenever you are," he said. Kimbel looked over to Noll and began to pull him out of the building. Rey followed, noting the odd look Noll was giving him.

Once they were outside, Rey fell into step beside Noll, who was apparently walking too slowly for Kimbel's taste. The child hurried on ahead, waving and shouting at many people as he passed, easily jumping into a game several of the other children were playing in the muddy road.

"So what are you doing here?" Noll asked sharply, turning his gaze onto Rey. Rey held it admirably.

"I told you, I just wanted to—"

"No, I mean what are you _doing here?_" Noll interjected coldly. "Is it really because you want to protect us from the demons?" Rey's face felt frozen as Noll practically spat the words at him. For a moment, he didn't say anything, only swallowed nervously.

"…Yes," he answered eventually. Noll snickered.

"You took too long answering that," he pointed out. "I don't believe you." Rey turned to him indignantly.

"Well, it's true!" he said hotly. Noll lifted a condescending eyebrow.

"Why should I trust you?" he asked in an infuriating voice. Rey bristled.

"Because we saved Kimbel," he replied, trying to mimic the coldness in Noll's voice. Noll's eyes narrowed and suddenly, he grabbed Rey's cloak and pulled him around a corner into an alleyway.

"_Exactly,_" Noll hissed, shoving Rey's back against a wall. Rey winced, momentary terror shooting through him. "You do one good deed and you feel you have the right to lord it over us. What do you expect from me, gold? Well, I haven't got any. Women? You don't need to be a filthy liar to get them. Glory? That's it, isn't it. You're here for the glory, the honor of defending us poor innocent villagers. You son of a _bitch_." Rey glared and reached up to try to twist Noll's hands from his cloak.

"Will you—let _go!_" he demanded, attempting to push Noll away. "You have got it all wrong! We're not interested in lying to you. We don't care about glory! We just—"

"Oh, you are the squire of bullshit!" Noll cut in. "You think I couldn't tell that was all you're after? That tall one, he's probably the 'head knight,' with all of his self-righteousness. I could _smell_ his lust for fame! What a—"

"Don't talk about him that way! He only wants to help! We all do!"

"Stop spewing your lies, you pathetic little squire! Saying them more doesn't make them true!"

"But it _is_ true!"

"Shut _up_!"

Before Rey could attempt to vouch for himself and his friends again, Noll pulled him roughly away from the wall and threw him further into the alley. Rey stumbled and tripped and struggled to keep his balance, reaching out to the wall for support. Once he was able to find his feet again, he turned to give Noll a shocked but still very defiant look. He straightened himself and took determined steps toward the human, ready to tell Noll until the man listened that he and his friends were not being insincere.

Noll's look caused him to stumble again, though. Instead of pure anger and hatred, as Rey had expected to see, there was something else there, something very poignant and familiar in its general appearance, but foreign in its intensity. Noll's features were screwed up in an expression which, of course, expressed anger and perhaps even some disdain, but Rey could see something else, some… some what?

Luca's face suddenly flashed into his mind, and Rey froze, suddenly remembering vividly a time when he spent hours just sitting by Luca's bedside, watching tensely, nervously, petrified as Luca struggled against the pain of the disease eating away at him. Luca's face when he'd awoken but Judas hadn't, and Luca was forced to watch as his dearest friend experienced the pain he felt should have been his. Rey remembered that too. The pain and fear in Luca's eyes as the rest of the Saints had approached him and he looked to them all and pleaded for them to get help for Judas before he'd collapsed.

That pain that Rey remembered so clearly on Luca's face not that long ago, was now clearly etched into Noll's features, but it was heightened. Rey didn't know if it was because of his humanity, or because of something else, but the pain written on Noll's face right then was raw, simple, and pronounced. Was this what Shin had meant when he'd described the humans as having a "primitive" side to them? Was this primitive?

"You're a liar," Noll spat, drawing Rey out of his thoughts. Rey froze again, wanting to contradict Noll, but having lost momentum.

"I—" he started weakly.

"You just came here for you," Noll went on, walking toward Rey and circling him viciously. He was silent for one tense moment before he let out an incredulous laugh, leaning in close to Rey.

"And you're the worst of all of them," he sneered, his face twisting further. "Coming in here, _pretending _that you don't know, that you're not really lying to us. This childish act, all your sweet lovely naiveté, and it's all fake. Like you and your friends. You played me for a fool back there, didn't you?" He took a step away from Rey, turning back toward the open street. He stopped.

"You and your knights can keep away from me," he snarled. "And Kimbel." With one last glare, he turned and walked back into the streets, leaving Rey petrified in the alleyway, eyes wide, chest heaving short breaths in and out.

Rey didn't know how long he stood there in that alleyway, just staring blankly at the empty space in front of him. Did he just—Did that just… happen?

Finally his body protested his thoughtless paralysis and began to gingerly move him forward and out of the alley. His legs moved for him, understanding that his mind did not have the capability at the moment to command them. They moved him back the way he had come, having imprinted their earlier steps and directions into their own unique muscle memory. So that when Rey next came to awareness, he was standing before the tavern which housed their rooms. The torches were still lit but the night seemed to be getting darker to Rey. He looked up at the sky for a moment but could see only clouds and no stars. For some reason, the sight sent his heart plunging into the pit of his stomach, where it soaked in some cold gooey liquid until Rey pulled his eyes forward again.

He moved, trancelike, into the tavern and up the stairs. He didn't know if anyone noticed him, but his mind couldn't muster up the will to care. And soon, Rey was in his room, the one Shin had assigned for he and Luca. Luca…

Luca wasn't there at the moment, Rey noticed, as his knees buckled and he fell to the bed. He was alone, thank God. Perching himself thoughtlessly on the edge of the bed, Rey rested his arms against his legs, his hands loosely connected and hanging limply between them. He stared at the floor just in front of him. Noll's face refused to leave his mind, the man's voice still hissing and spitting every stinging, pointed, and painful word Rey could think of, the sound of it ringing in his ears.

Fake… Rey was fake. He was a liar, he was deceitful, he was pathetic, and he couldn't—he couldn't—

"Rey."

Rey jerked back and blinked, his mind suddenly remembering that he could see and registering the sight of Luca kneeling before him, his brow furrowed, lips parted. Rey wanted to say that it was worry laced into Luca's features, but he didn't want to flatter himself by making that assumption. Wasn't Luca upset about something? Rey remembered the tension he'd seen in Luca's figure as he'd left to follow Judas earlier that night.

He immediately pulled back slightly and straightened, feeling Luca's hands upon his covered elbows. He noticed that Luca seemed to be avoiding his skin. He felt his face heat up.

"Luca…" he replied, his voice weaker than he'd hoped. "How—when did you get here?" His voice cracked through the sentence and he winced, but Luca thankfully said nothing of it. He did shift, however, and move himself slightly closer to Rey.

"Only a moment ago," he replied, his voice softer. "Rey, what's wrong?" Rey flinched at the words as though Luca had struck him, turning away and feeling the heat leave his face. It almost felt like too much heat was leaving his face, though. He half expected Luca to maneuver his head so that eye contact would have to be established, but Luca's hands didn't move. Luca didn't do anything. He just remained where he was, waiting patiently for Rey to speak. He was always like that. Perfect and patient about everything. Rey was so imperfect next to him.

His face twisted into an expression of embarrassment suddenly and it was then that Luca chose to react.

"Rey—" he began, reaching up to Rey's face in one smooth uncontrolled motion, his fingers brushing Rey's skin. Rey jerked away from the touch instinctively, shutting his thoughts down. _No, no, Luca doesn't deserve that. I—I can't— _His eyes unintentionally found Luca's and he froze. Luca's hand remained suspended in the air between them, where Rey's face had been a moment ago. Luca swallowed, his worry showing clearly in his eyes now.

"Rey…" Luca said in a quiet and low voice. "Whatever it is, please tell me. Please, let me help." They remained like that for a moment, one long moment, and Rey was tempted, he was _so tempted _to tell Luca everything. He even opened his mouth in preparation, ready to let the words spill out.

But, instead of the acquiescence he'd been expecting to give Luca, he shook his head slowly, barely moving it at all. He closed his mouth and reached up to Luca's arm, careful to grasp the covered part of the wrist. He moved Luca's arm away from his face, back down to Luca's side. He smiled.

"It's alright, Luca," he said, getting to his feet and trying to ignore the way his smile hurt his face. "I'm fine." Without another word, without so much as even a look in Luca's direction, Rey hurried out of the room, disappearing through the door. Luca watched after him, surprised, concerned, and confused, as he listened to Rey's hasty footsteps down the hall.

* * *

Shin stared up in silence at the large stone building before him, something familiar moving through him as he stared. He knew that this building was a church, knew what its purpose was. He took in a slow breath, his eyes drawn to the stained glass rose window proudly situated high upon the face of the church. Looking closely, Shin could see the prevalent figures of the Christians' doctrine. He'd studied those figures one day out of curiosity, wondering just how close to the true figure of God these humans came.

Shin began to walk toward the church, reluctantly moving his eyes from the window to the door. As he neared, he could hear soft chanting coming from somewhere within the church, echoing off the walls and finding its way out through the open windows and clerestories. Shin stopped at the entrance, hesitant. Could he go inside? Generally, the church closed its doors at night, from what Shin had read.

"Sir knight." Shin jumped slightly and turned, somewhat startled, to see a relatively old man standing beside him, his hands folded piously. Shin blinked and quickly smiled, bowing his head slightly in respect.

"Father," he greeted, remembering the term from his studies. "Forgive me for my imposition." He moved to stand aside. The priest smiled and held his hand up to halt Shin.

"There is no need to ask forgiveness," he said. "You will join us for Mass tomorrow?" Shin smiled.

"I will endeavor to do so," he replied. The priest nodded and lifted his hands up.

"Peace be with you," he said in a reverent voice, turning to walk into the church.

"And peace be with you," Shin murmured after him. The smile fell from his face once the great doors closed after the priest, and his brow furrowed. That was over quickly. Somehow, Shin had expected a bit… more.

Shin was tempted to follow the priest, go into the church maybe and ask questions of which he wasn't quite sure he understood the meanings. Questions about God and about humans and about angels. What were they all? Was it difficult to believe in a God they'd never met—

"Shin." Shin jumped slightly and turned around to see Judas standing a ways away from him, looking at him with a mixture of unease and almost a million other swirling unknown emotions. Instinctively, Shin took a step toward Judas, wanting to reach out to him, say something to him that would drive away the unease. His hand twitched at his side, but he forced it to remain there. He did allow his own confusion to be visible in his expression.

"Judas," he greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"Have you seen Rey?" Judas asked in a hard voice, almost cutting Shin off. Shin blinked, suddenly feeling nervous and a little pressured under Judas's gaze. He shook his head.

"No, I haven't," he said slowly, worry and concern beginning to develop for Rey now. Judas looked away, obviously frustrated. It was then that Shin noticed Judas's entire bodyline was tense and rigid, his arms tightly pinned to his sides, his muscles taut with the effort of keeping himself in check. He was holding back. Before Shin could say anything else, Judas turned and began to walk away. Shin inwardly panicked.

"Wait, Judas—" he began, hurrying after the red-haired angel and reaching out to grab his shoulder. Almost immediately, Judas tensed further, but he did stop. He didn't turn to Shin.

"What is it, Shin?" he asked. For a moment, Shin was uncertain. Should he speak his thoughts? For some reason a part of him was trying to insist that Judas would not be at all receptive to such thoughts. He was quick to silence that part of him. When was Judas ever one to reject the thoughts of others?

"Are you alright?" To be on the safe side, he would start with that. Judas still didn't turn. At first he didn't answer. Shin took a step closer.

"Judas?" he tried again.

"I'm fine, Shin," Judas said tersely, shaking the hand from his shoulder. Shin felt an inexplicable stab somewhere deep in his chest. He quickly pulled his hand back to his side. He took a step back, feeling something between them suddenly widen, in a foreboding frightening kind of way.

"You're lying, though," he said softly, his brow furrowing. Judas seemed to realize his mistake and turned slowly toward Shin, looking as though he were fighting something to complete that simple action. And in the end, he couldn't completely face Shin, and he stopped mid-turn, looking down at the ground, eyes closed tight. He swallowed thickly. Immediately, that stab returned to his chest and Shin moved forward, reaching out to Judas, this time without hesitation.

He turned Judas's face toward his, gently grasping the angel's chin. His eyes softened and looked directly into Judas's. His chest tightened.

"Judas…" His voice was almost a whisper. "Whatever's happening, I—Please tell me." Judas's face twisted into a pained expression as he looked at Shin, eyes pleading with him, asking _something _of Shin which was frustratingly beyond Shin's comprehension. Judas opened his mouth as though to speak but nothing came out at first. He closed it and looked away, a rueful sort of smile spreading across his lips.

"…Before a church, Shin?" he said in a voice of forced ease. "You must—be trapped in a very severe doubt indeed to resort to this." Shin let his hand drop and stepped away, turning toward the church the hide the fakeness of his smile.

"You know its purpose?" he asked in his usual gentle voice, betraying nothing. Judas followed his gaze, trying to force the sadness from his smile.

"You told me of it," he pointed out. "Don't you remember?" Shin hesitated before he nodded, turning slightly red at having forgotten.

"In my defense, people don't normally listen when I… lecture," he said, feeling cold and empty. When had it gotten so difficult to speak freely with Judas? Judas should have been one of the people Shin felt the _most _comfortable with. Why now did he feel so separate from him?

Judas chuckled in a deep familiar way and Shin allowed himself to hope for a moment that it was just the uncertainty of current events that was bothering them, affecting their conversation.

"You'd be surprised how often I listen when you speak, whether to lecture or not."

Shin's breath caught in his throat. He bowed his head, his face flushing at Judas's words, the deep tone of his voice. He didn't know why it affected him so much, the way Judas spoke, the things he said. Even in Heaven, he had been susceptible, but here, it felt—

"Gai, wait! _Gai!_"

Startled, Shin and Judas turned to see a wide-eyed Gai hurrying toward them, his fangs elongated and plainly visible. Immediately, Shin was on edge, looking around to see if any people were around to see. Did the cloaks Zeus had given them also hide Gai's fangs? He could only hope they did.

Gai almost ran right past them but Judas's hand shot out and halted him before he could. Gou came to a stop behind him, looking agitated and concerned and even somewhat frightened. Shin noticed a medley of other emotions behind his eyes, feeling his own brow furrow in response. He opened his mouth to ask them what was going on, but Gai put a premature end to his inquiry by ripping himself from Judas's grip and turning to Gou.

"What _was_ that!?" he demanded, his voice quivering and shaking in such a way that Shin turned to give him a surprised and worried look. What had happened that had—

"Gai, calm down for a moment, it's just—" Gou began, moving toward Gai with placating hands raised. Gai growled and roughly shoved him back, his eyes wet.

"I _won't _calm down, Gou, they just—Those _humans_, they—What'd they even _do!?_ We have to go back, we have to—" He began to move past Gou, back in the direction they'd come, fists clenched in determination. _More like bravado…_ Shin thought to himself, recognizing the frightened quiver in Gai's hands, the way his shoulders tensed the way they always did when he was uncertain and he didn't want to show it. He felt his heart clench.

"Gai—" he began gently, but Gou reached out and gripped Gai's shoulders, pulling the distressed angel to his chest. With his solemnity barely masking his frustration and—Shin was shocked and confused to see the emotion on Gou's face—anger, Gou wrapped an arm around Gai's shoulders, anchoring him there.

"Calm down, Gai," he said firmly. Gai fought the hold valiantly, desperately trying to pull himself away.

"Let _go _of me, Gou!" he growled, shoving against Gou's chest and putting up an impressive fight for one his size. But then Gai had always been like that, always possessed a wiry strength that didn't seem to fit with his size, his image.

Shin listened in horror as Gou spoke again, his calm tones somehow carrying over Gai's screeching demands.

"There's nothing we can do, Gai!" he said firmly. Something in Shin's stomach dropped and he found himself wondering if he really wanted to know what Gou was talking about. "You'll only get yourself hurt if you go back there."

"But we have to help—"

"She is _dead_, Gai, there's nothing we can do!"

A chilling and oppressive silence followed Gou's declaration. Shin's throat closed and he stared with wide eyes at Gou.

"Gou…" Judas's voice penetrated the fog in Shin's mind, sounding as confused and wary as he felt. "What happened?" Gou turned his eyes onto Judas first, then Shin, and Shin saw something in them falter, felt some wall begin to crumble, and he suddenly felt frightened, more apprehensive than before.

"Gou," he uttered, seeing the solemnity on Gou's face become somewhat despondent. After a few painful moments of silence, Gou's grip on Gai tightened and he opened his mouth to speak.

"It was those humans!" Gai intervened, cutting him off before he could speak. His voice was wet, tears beginning to leak from his eyes. He turned to Shin and Judas, attempting again to move out of Gou's hold, but Gou pulled him back, and Gai's head whirled around so that he could lock his gaze on the taller angel.

"They just—they _attacked her_!" he exclaimed in residual shock. "They just—She was—They—" Shin heard something choke deep in Gai's throat and hated the helpless feeling in his gut as he watched Gai suddenly collapse against Gou, a sob wrenched from his body, the tears beginning to flow in earnest from his eyes. Gou simply held him, saying nothing as he stared at the ground behind Gai.

"Gou—"

"Gou." Shin fell silent and turned to see Judas step toward Gou, hand moving up to the nape of his neck. Gou started and turned to Judas, gaze surprised as though he'd forgotten Judas and Shin were there. Being careful not to jar Gai, Judas placed his other hand on Gou's cheek, catching Gou's gaze and searching it, mouth set into a thin line.

"What happened, Gou?" Judas asked seriously but softly. Gou's eyes flickered down to Gai for a moment before returning to gaze at Judas's face. Shin saw Gou's shoulders tremble for a moment but the moment passed quickly and his body was soon rigid and sturdy once more, as it always was. Gou opened his mouth.

"There was a woman in the alleyway," he said. "Gai and I were on the other side of the street. We noticed her when we heard her scream." Judas tensed.

"Demons?" he asked lowly and urgently. Gou shook his head, looking pained.

"Humans," he corrected. Judas looked thunderstruck and Shin froze.

"Hu—humans?" Judas uttered, uncomprehending. Gou nodded.

"Three or four," he went on in a quiet voice, Gai's sobs still cutting through his words. "They fell upon her and killed her." Shin stared at Gou, horrified. Judas was silent, his hand falling from Gou's face to lay slack upon his shoulder.

"They ripped her _apart!_" Gai yowled into Gou's chest, gripping the angel's robes tightly, voice drenched in anger and desperation and confusion. Gou winced and curled his arm tighter around Gai's trembling form.

"He's right," Gou went on, voice haunted. "She tried to fight them off, but—they went beyond merely killing her. And they didn't simply do the deed, either. They… prolonged it. It was—grotesque. What they were doing to her. It was—"

"It was inhuman!" Gai interjected again, lifting his head to send Gou a watery glare. "It was inhuman and wrong and—and just _disgusting_ and we should have _helped!_" He began to pull away from Gou again, trying to pry Gou's arm from his shoulder. This time, Gou released him without protest, watching as Gai sprinted toward the tavern, disappearing inside, and presumably toward the room he shared with Gou. Shin watched him even after he disappeared from sight, wanting to go after him, make sure he was alright. Instead he turned toward Gou, who had yet to take his own eyes from the tavern entrance. The tall angel released a sigh and allowed his shoulders to sag. Judas moved his arm to support Gou, his worry evident in his face.

"You witnessed a murder," he said quietly. Gou shook his head.

"It was worse than that," he murmured and Shin moved toward him then, the broken sound of Gou's voice urging him forward.

"Gou," he said softly, earning the attention of both Gou and Judas. "Are you alright?" Gou let out a small pathetic-sounding chuckle, giving Shin a weak smile.

"We didn't have human weapons," he muttered. "I thought—what would they think, seeing us step in with fire and earth?" He broke off to shake his head, straightening and pulling himself away from Judas and Shin. He gave them both that solemn look again, his fists clenching. "A poor excuse for standing there idle as they... murdered_..._ an innocent woman." Without another word, without another look in Judas and Shin's direction, Gou made his way into the tavern, looking every bit the strong and able guardian he always was. The sight of it made Shin inexplicably and unbearably upset.

"Judas—" he began, only to cut himself off when Judas turned and began to head off in the direction from which Gou and Gai had come. Shin turned to watch him in silence for a moment. Should he call after him?

"Judas…" he breathed, the name barely audible leaving his lips as he watched Judas leave, watched Judas walk away from him, walk away without a word or a look. Looking strong, looking confident as Gou had when he'd walked away after Gai. Playing the parts they had to play, being the strength of the group, the strength of the Saint Beasts, despite the fear Shin _knew _they had to be feeling. He had seen it, seen it in both sets of eyes, Gou's and Judas's. In the way Gou had held Gai, and the way Judas had looked at him so desperately before. Something was happening to them, all of them, and Shin didn't know what it was. He was back where he started. In ignorance. Frustrating ignorance.

"Shin?" Shin turned to see Luca approaching him, worry and confusion etched into his brow. He stopped before Shin, his gaze moving to stare after Judas's far-off retreating form, then going to the tavern. Finally, it returned to Shin.

"What's going on?" he asked seriously. Shin gave him a weak and halfhearted smile.

"Rey?" he asked, suddenly very fearful for his friend. Luca shook his head, frustration creeping into his expression.

"I can't find him," he admitted. He was silent for a moment, glaring at a point beyond Shin's shoulder and Shin struggled not to resign himself to the fear of not knowing where Rey was, that fear mixing in with the other emotions waging war inside him, roused and brought to the surface by Gai's hysterics, Gou's quiet pain, Judas's stiff uncertainty.

"Shin." Shin blinked and looked to Luca again, the angel's eyes once again on his. He didn't try to smile this time.

"What's happened?" Luca asked. Shin's brow furrowed and he shook his head, reaching out to take Luca's hand in both of his. Looking meaningfully at Luca, Shin opened his thoughts, organized them so that the memory of what had just happened was at the fore. Luca's eyes slowly widened as he heard Shin's thoughts, witnessed Shin's memorized account of what had just transpired.

Luca said nothing, only looked at Shin, his hand clenching around Shin's. Shin blinked his eyes, feeling a sting behind them, and kept Luca's gaze.

"What's happening to us?" he asked quietly, uncertainty weaving its web throughout his soul, and slithering into his voice. Luca looked at him for a moment and shook his head minutely, once left, once right.

"I don't know, Shin."

* * *

**Finally another chapter! Alright! I apologize for this taking so long to get uploaded. I really have no good excuse; yes, my interest sort of fluctuates and moves from story to story, but I always go back to old ones and try to finish them. This is kinda an old story I guess, but regardless, my interest in it is still very much there, and it's very strong, so I'm not worried about losing any inspiration for it. I hoped there are still people interested in reading it, as I am in writing it! I know it's been a while. **

**Aaand there's also a lot happening in this chapter, and I understand that it might be confusing or might seem like it's moving really fast, and if it's the former, feel free to ask any questions in a review or a PM to me! There are a lot of explanations I could give for certain parts of this. I think one I'll give right now is as to why Gai fell apart at the sight of rape. And yes, it was rape. As for that, I just don't think he's at all used to seeing it, and the idea that humans-who are in the image of God and angels-could do that to each other is frightening to him and he doesn't quite know how to comprehend it, so he reacts viscerally. It also goes back to the idea-which I'm going with in this story-that angels really know nothing about sex because Zeus keeps them incredibly sheltered and they really have no need for it, since they don't procreate that way.  
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**So Gai was reacting to that, not knowing what it was, but knowing that it was unwanted. If that makes sense. Just let me know if it doesn't!  
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**If there's anything else people are confused about, or if there's something you don't think flows or something, then let me know! And I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! **


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